Meet the woman creating positive change in literature and translation

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It is the month of August so in the world of literature and translation services it could only mean one thing; it is Women in Translation Month. Women in Translation Month or WIT Month for short is a movement that was started back in 2014 by an Israeli-born biology grad student Meytal Radzinski who, being an avid reader and possessing the ability of reading both in English and Hebrew translations of books discovered through tracking her own reading lists in translation that there were very little female writers who had their works translated as when compared to males.

So being the scientist that she is, Radzinski identified the problem and immediately started gathering information and when she had released the statistics it depicted a vast majority of books translated into English had been written by male writers. According to the statistics on Radzinski’s blog as of 2016 only approximately 30% of new book translations are from female writers. These statistics had amassed a great deal of attention amongst writers, bloggers, literature communities and translators to name a few and thus ‘Women in Translation Month’ was born.

When interviewed by The Forward’s Aviya Kushner, Radzinski explained that after she had released these little known statistics she was urged by another blogger to start an event or carry this on as a movement over a month so she decided August was the best month as it was for her the least stressful month.

WIT Month is run in the UK by the Arts Council backed charity, The Reading Agency and aims to even up the playing field of the gender gap when it comes to translations of literature from different languages into English because of this some great books and great writers could miss out of prestige worldwide acclaim as well as receiving accolades for their works and not to mention the limited financial translation of being available to only the original audience.

This year marks the third year of WIT Month and there are signs of progression as creator Radzinski says “Last year on August 30th I happened to be in New York and I saw a shelf in Book Culture devoted to women in translation.” Hinting at a possible shift in thinking and with events happening from Dublin to New York and the movement continuing to gain momentum on social platforms further putting pressure on the publishers, it will only be a matter of time before change.

Read the full interview and Radzinski’s book suggestions here.

Image: Screenshot of biblibio blog.

The real meaning behind Despacito

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Arguably the song of 2017 and certainly the anthem of the summer has been the Spanish-written song “Despacito” (translation: “Slowly”) by Puerto Rican singer songwriter Luis Alfonso Rodríguez López-Cepero also known as Luis Fonsi featuring legendary Reggaeton artist Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez better known as Daddy Yankee.

The song itself has been remixed and repackaged to the English speaking world which features Canadian pop artist Justin Bieber to help the song gain popularity in English speaking countries and there is also an official Portuguese translation for the song featuring Brazilian singer Israel Novaes replacing Daddy Yankee.

The official video has amassed nearly 3 billion views on YouTube which many believe will become the most viewed YouTube video of all time as well accumulating a whopping 4.6 billion streams and counting leading Despacito to become the most streamed song in history as you can imagine the retail translation is big bucks.

But for those of us who do not possess the skills to understand or speak Spanish enjoy the songs melodic and rhythmic tone coincided with the reggaeton beats we could be forgiven thinking that Despacito is nothing more than a happy, innocent Latin American song. Well it turns out when translated into English the lyrics are more sinister than we might have originally thought.

You see the lyrics to the pop-reggaeton track are actually quite edgy with lines such as “Let me trespass your danger zones” and “I want to see your hair dance” it would be a big surprise that if the song was in English it would have even received the go ahead to be released let alone parents playing Fonsi and Daddy Yankee in front of their kids. Some of the lyrics get even more X-rated and you can see the full translation here on Billboards website.

Despacito’s lyrics were even considered bad enough in Malaysia to see the government ban the song from government-owned media platforms due to be “un-Islamic” and “not suitable to be heard” whilst advising other radio stations to follow suit.

But as the song is just so catchy we can just use the excuse that we don’t understand it and enjoy it anyway. Let us know what you think of the lyrics.

China aiming to eradicate translation fails

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We have all seen or heard of the dodgy translations (not carried out by professional translation agencies) that have been written up on signs, information boards and even advertisements from big businesses across China. You see China can often be a tricky place for English speakers whether you are a business trying to enter the market or just a tourist looking to get around. In fact we even dedicated a whole blog article about how big companies from the west such as Nike, Dior and Burberry; to name a few have gotten things so wrong in China with these retail translation fails.

As well as on the flipside how ‘DIY’ Chinese translation services carried out by Chinese locals can sometimes lead to confusion, frustration or humour amongst English speaking travellers. One time leading to a very heated argument between a shopkeeper and a customer over a “free tea” sign.

Well these tales of confusion and comedy might soon be a thing of the past according to authorities in China. The authorities in China announced that a new national standard of English translation will come into place from December that will affect 13 public domains such as financial, transport, medical and the entertainment areas according to the People’s Daily newspaper, China’s state newspaper. The aim is to implement proper localisation services which would spell the end of poor English translations that are too literal and riddled with grammatical errors on signs such as ‘Please do not feed the fish with your private’ or ‘Racist Park’.

This type of Mandarin to English translation is known as ‘Chinglish’ and is somewhat of an embarrassment within China as children are given English lessons early on. The newspaper goes on to say that the new English translations do “not contain content that damages the images of China or other countries”. So if you are out in China towards the end of the year, be sure to be on the lookout for such changes and let us know the worst ever translated sign you have ever seen.

How to know ‘who to know’ to build success

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Whenever you ask successful people how they got to where they are you often hear the words uttered including; hard work, determination; luck and one that’s often repeated and emphasised upon constantly is who they know or their connections. As it stands it is not simply what you know but who you know and the two work together to translate into achieving your goals.

Now for the average person who did not perhaps attend private school and is well connected to people with influence it is sometimes not easy to get connected to the people who can be instrumental in your success. Now let’s not be mistaken buy thinking that just because you attended private school you are instantly going to be more successful than say a state school student! There are many other factors to take into consideration to come to such a conclusion. Factors such as your will and determination because let’s face it you could have had the best education but if your work ethic does not match, someone with a basic education but with great determination can be more successful. On the other hand private school education does put many people at a higher advantage especially later in life when wanting to work for the likes of government bodies or prestigious law firms. Privately educated students also tend to get into the higher ranked universities like Oxford and Cambridge despite reports suggesting that state school students get better degrees than private school pupils with same A-levels.

Now back to the point of how to know who to know. So we’ve established we need to have god connections in order to achieve success whether in business or working career but often times we wonder how do we build these useful connections? How do we position ourselves amongst influencers? Where do we find these people to connect with?

There are plenty of resources out there to help. Thanks to the internet a multitude of information is accessible to all that are looking and it just takes a little digging. To highlight a few mediums you can take advantage of in order  to make valuable connections you can refer to the below list:

  1. LinkedIn

Sites like LinkedIn provide an inside access to ‘who’s who’ in your industry. For example if you are trying to break into the financial industry you can easily send a message to the director of finance for a large multinational company. Needless to say they probably get tons of these on a daily basis so being creative is key!

  1. Business networking events

Attending business networking events is very useful as these are often intimate settings where you can actually speak and connect with people and ask all the questions you need answers for.

  1. Trade shows

Trade shows allow you to speak to your competitors or potential competitors giving you a firsthand experience of what they do. This is also a great opportunity to meet people and generate leads.

  1. Apps

There are many business apps available on the market and one which stands out today is Meetup. This free app allows you to join other like minded groups of people in your local area ranging from business clubs to leisure and sport.

  1. Social media

Social media is one of the best things to come out of the internet with the likes of Facebook and Twitter allowing you to connect on an informal level. This also gives you an insight into the hobbies and interests of whoever you wish to connect with which can be a great ice-breaker when starting conversations.

Are there any other means you have found successful in creating great connections? Feel free to share.

Image by: Internet Association on Flickr

Ever wanted to talk to the animals? You might be able to very soon

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Translation services, whether it is translating a sentence or a whole advertising campaign, it is a very important tool in understanding or getting a message understood in another language. Sometimes to convey your messages to an audience who speak the same language but different locale you need localisation services, for media translations you might need transcription services or if you needed a simultaneous translation the interpretation services are what you need.

Whatever the type of translation service you require you would be pretty well covered by the vast amount of professional translation agencies out there, But how about if you wanted to talk to the animals? Dr. Dolittle comes to mind whenever the idea of being able to communicate with animals is brought up, that the idea is nothing but nonsense some have even argued that if communication between humans and animals was to exist the outlooks and reference points of two different species could be so different that it would be pointless even trying.

Well it turns out that the notion of being able to understand animals through the means of translation services could be realised sooner than you think! We previously talked about the ‘Temptation catterbox’ which aims to translate a cat’s meow into human languages; well now it’s the turn of dolphins.

Swedish language tech company Gavagai AB along with KTH Royal Institute of Technology are working together with the aim of being able to understand the language of dolphins. Gavagai AB has already developed language analysis software that has grasped 40 human languages. They plan to have an understanding of the way dolphins communicate by monitoring bottlenose dolphin using Gavagai’s language analysis software.

Jussi Karlgren the Gavagai co-founder and KTH adjunct professor had this to say when speaking to Bloomberg “We hope to be able to understand dolphins with the help of artificial intelligence technology,” as well as commenting on the complexity of dolphin communications “We know that dolphins have a complex communication system, but we don’t know what they are talking about yet.”

The project will run for four years and they hope to have an understanding on the dolphin communication by 2021. This could be the first real breakthrough in being able to understand animals and have them understand us. Who knows we could have something like dolphin to Romanian translation services or rabbit to German translation services sooner than we think!

Why you must not overlook language translation services to boost international sales

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Doing business internationally in present times is something that can be easily done providing you have the medium to reach your target market, have the channels to distribute your products or the means to deliver your services. With the likes of social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter continuing to be top branding and advertising platforms which are not only free but can each put you in front of 700 million active monthly users on Instagram and around 317 million active users on twitter respectfully.

Gone are the days when big top brands with hefty budgets had almost the entire market share in a multitude of industries which could have been attributed to lack of choice from the consumer. With things having shifted drastically over the years and there is no sign of this slowing down. Take for instance the local bakery or vintage clothes store in your local area whereas before they would have been limited to their local area and relied on word of mouth to advertise their products however today at the click of a button, with a good social media and internet marketing strategy they are able to place themselves amongst the big names in the industry and give themselves a fighting chance to gain market share.

In addition with shipping companies like DHL, UPS and FedEx shipping to nearly every corner of the world you can guarantee not only to get in front of people who are searching for your products but to also be able to deliver you products to them in a speedy way.

With more and more people choosing to skip the hustle and bustle of having to go to a store to shop and as technology continues to shape the way in which people shop online, many companies are taking advantage of this opportunity by upgrading their e-commerce platforms and taking advantage of language translation services.

With many free tools such as Google translate which is able to convey your website content into another language at the click of a button this will surely lead to more sales? Well that is something that in theory works but marketing managers need to be careful about using automated translation tools when it comes to reaching an audience who does not speak your language.

It is therefore imperative to use a professional translation agency. Although the likes of Google translate will translate your content word for word the lack of human touch can misinterpret your message altogether and not only prevent you from gaining new customers but could easily result in you losing existing customers who may no longer trust your brand. Adding translation services to your marketing budget will yield results especially if your product or service is in demand on an international scale.

Many reports have showed that people prefer to shop in their native language and studies by Common Sense Advisory found that more local language content on a website lead to a greater likelihood of purchase.  

If you require translation or localisation services you can contact Exchange Lingo today to discuss your needs.

Image by: Robert Scoble on Flickr

Why many African languages may become extinct

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When it comes to discussing Africa and its role in the world there are many topics which are up for debate and despite being the second most populous continent with around 1.2 billion occupants and over 2000 languages spoken, it seems as though African languages are never at the forefront when it comes to global discussions on this topic. In spite of being hailed as the origin of human kind it is sometimes perplexing as to how such a culturally diverse, natural resource rich continent is often overlooked.

We previously talked about which languages in Britain would pay the most and found that on average the best paid jobs were those which required candidates to speak a second language with the top language being Mandarin. Evidence of this was highlighted based on a search of how many job opportunities were available online via jobsites. There are many reasons for this some of which can be attributed to China’s economic growth one being its shift to becoming a global force to be reckoned with over the last few decades. With China’s GDP ranked second on a global scale behind the US it is no wonder why many people are deciding to learn Chinese more specifically Mandarin which is China’s most widely spoken language which has also fuelled the need for Mandarin translation services for businesses looking to trade effectively with China.

Now back to the point about African languages one of the major reasons why African languages are not at the forefront of discussions could be put down to the fact that many African countries still use their colonial languages as their first language and these languages are also used as the official language by their governments and education. This is evident in countries like Nigeria arguable one of Africa’s richest nations and one of the most traded with western nation’s especially exporting oil which is one of its major resources. Nigeria adapted its colonial British language of English as its official language. Countries like Angola which was colonised by the Portuguese also adapted the language as the official language of the nation. This being the case many local languages although spoken by large numbers of the population, many of them cannot read or write in their native tongue despite being able to do so in their colonial languages.

This has become even more of a concern as more and more people travel across the world and settle down in different parts of the world where their local language becomes less and less relevant as they often communicate with their children in the native tongue of the country they are living in. You will find this is the case with many first and second generation immigrants in the UK who will communicate with their children in English instead of their mother tongue and thus eliminating the development of their native language. This is not only the case with migrants there are many native Africans within the African continent who cannot understand or speak their own mother tongue but are highly fluent in English. With that being said is there any hope to save African languages for generations to come?

What are your thoughts?

Image by: Paul Birnie

The awkward translations of the French election

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As the nation of France has been continuingly gripped by the race for the French presidency, the fate of their countries political affairs and futures are at stake. With the first round of voting, which was held on 23rd April 2017 indicating no majority winner the two most voted for candidates, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen will face off in a run-off election this week on Sunday 7th May 2017 to decide who will become the next French president. Now the slogans of each political party is usual something that sends a clear strong message across to the public that embodies the whole ethos of the party in a short phrase so least to say they are pretty important, but how much meaning do they lose once translation services are used to make it legible in another language?

In an article originally reported by international new network FRANCE24 they take a look at how each of the potential French president’s slogans and party names translate from French to English. They started with the most awkward English translation, that of the far-leftist candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon.  Mélenchon’s campaign was named “La France Insoumise” which makes complete sense in French but in English has been awkwardly translated to “Unsubmissive France” by FRANCE24 journalist Florence Villeminot, although the author of the article Christine Buckley noted that another of their journalist suggested the phrase to be translated to “Indomitable France” whilst others like Politico have used “France Untamed”, The New York Times went with “France Unbowed” and “Rebellious France.” This just goes to show that there are many different ways that words can be translated and even the best French translation services can be in disagreement of a translation.

The rest of the campaigns translation into English were more or less straight forward with the conservative François Fillon slogan being “Le courage de la verité” which translates to “The Courage of Truth” and Buckley commented on the fact that ironically the truth part was not so accurate as he had been plagued with scandals so the slogan was swiftly changed to “Une volonté pour la France” or “Willpower for France”. To which political activists then changed to “Un vol pour la France” which actually means “Theft for France,” due to the scandal involving Fillon. Socialist candidate Benoît Hamon’s slogan read “Faire battre le Cœur de la France” which translated well into English, “Make France’s Heart Beat Again.

Of the two remaining candidates left running for the presidency, far right’s Marine Le Pen’s campaign slogan is simply “Au Nom du Peuple !” which means “In the Name of the People!” in English. Her opposition on the other hand centrist Emmanuel Macron’s “En Marche” campaign was meant to translate to “Onward!”, but like most translations this was up for debate with some English language-based media outlets using the terms “Forward” or “On Our Way”. Saying this political translations are not unlike marketing or retail translation services as many political parties just like businesses will have a slogan to sum up what they are about or represent and these phrases can easily be misconstrued  when being translated into other languages and essentially lose their impact or their meaning altogether.

Let us know your thoughts.

2 more reasons to visit Zambia this year (Part 2)

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In our last post about 2 reasons to visit Zambia this year we touched on several points on what makes Zambia attractive to tourists including the famous Victoria Falls located in Livingstone, as well as the experience of coming in contact with the different cultures also known as tribes and the different languages spoken which is a fascinating real life experience for language lovers, translators and linguists.

In this post we will highlight two more reasons to visit Zambia this year.

Wildlife at its best

One of the best places to visit Zambia for wildlife is the South Luangwa National Park. Located in eastern Zambia the South Luangwa National Park is only 1hr 10minuts flight away from the capital city of Lusaka. You can travel by plane from Lusaka via Proflight for around $325 return. Several travel agents are able to organise flights and transfers to and from the various lodges located at the national park. Simply doing a Google search will show you results and reviews of different agents and also offer tips before you book. A good start is the Zambia Tourism website.

Sitting on 9050 km sq square miles this vast space is filled with rich wildlife that animal lovers would die for. Wildlife such as hippo can be seen in the Luangwa River, zebra can be viewed at close distance and beautiful antelopes can be seen whilst visiting the park.  The likes of elephant’s and giraffe are also familiar occupants of the national park.

Other National Parks where the beauty of wildlife can be experienced include; Kafue National Park and Lower Zambezi National Park and the previously discussed Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park.

Zambian weather and the best time to visit

When it comes to choosing the best time of year to visit Zambia it simply comes down to what you would like to do whilst you are there. If your interests are mainly visiting the Victoria Falls it is best to visit during the rainy season when the waterfalls are at their peak. The rains are at their peak during December, January, February and March.

June, July and august have cooler nights with June being considered ‘winter’ although average temperatures are usually around 10 degrees Celsius and maybe cooler in the night.

The hottest months to visit are September and October where temperatures can reach between 31 – 40 degrees Celsius.

Regardless of when you choose to visit there will be plenty of activities to do. Places like Siavonga offer comfort and luxury for holidaymakers. Although Zambia is landlocked this town is off the shore of Lake Kariba giving a beach like holiday feel.

The basics of greeting people in the local language

Although English is the official language and former colonial language which is used in schools and government several indigenous languages are commonly used on an everyday basis. See below how to greet and respond in two of the most spoken languages in mainland Zambia

English to Bemba translation

How are you? – Mulishani or Shani (adding the “Muli” adds respect to the greeting it is often used when speaking to people older than you)

I’m fine thanks and you? – Wino Shani (to which the other will respond with “Wino” pronounced as we-no).

English to Nyanja translation

How are you? – Mulibwanji

I’m fine thanks and you? – Bwino Bwanji (To which the other will respond with “Bwino”).

Where have you been or would like to visit in Zambia? Share your thoughts below.

2 reasons to visit Zambia this year

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Zambia a country landlocked in the southern region of Africa is home to many different cultures, fascinating nature and wildlife and also great weather. With each season boasting its own adventures Zambia is definitely a traveller’s perfect destination to explore. With an estimated 17 million residents this beautiful country has plenty of land to go with modern cities like the capital Lusaka offering all your latest entertainment spots such as cinemas, restaurants and theme parks to your more rural areas offering amazing views of nature and wildlife including the Zambezi River and South Luangwa National Park, Zambia is definitely a place you will like to relive over a over again once you have been.   

So what is it that attracts people to this land locked country? Well asides from the friendliness of the local people who welcome people from foreign countries with open arms there is a lot more than meets the average eye.

Victoria Falls + Animal Parks

Undoubtedly one of the biggest tourist attractions in Zambia is the Victoria Falls which lie between the borders of Zambia-Zimbabwe and are commonly described as one of the 7 wonders of the world. These 355 ft waterfalls are located on the Zambezi River, Africa’s 4th longest river after the Nile, Congo and Niger rivers. The source of the Zambezi River is located in Mwinilunga District of Zambia and flows through 6 other countries before it ends in the Indian Ocean.

Image by: Harvey Barrison (Flickr)

The Victoria Falls are locally known as Mosi-oa-Tunya which when using a translation service into English reads “The Smoke That Thunders”. The original name is derived from the Lozi language of Zambia. Victoria Falls was named after Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom after Scottish Missionary David Livingstone became the first European to visit the falls. The town in which the Victoria Falls lies was also named Livingstone.

Whist in Livingstone there are plenty of activities to do although just visiting the falls is breathtaking enough. For the thrill seekers you can actually bungee jump close to the falls. You can also walk across the Victoria Falls Bridge to catch some amazing views of the falls. In addition the Mosi-ao-Tunya National Park is home to wildlife such as Zebras, Giffaffes, Crocodiles and Buffalos to name a few.

Image by: Walter Schärer (Flickr)

The best time to experience the falls is during rainy season which normally falls between late November to April.

Culture & Languages

Zambia is home to around 72 languages and dialects each with its unique use of words. Although English is the main language spoke and taught in schools the main local languages spoken are Bemba, Nyanja, Tonga and Lozi. Many of these languages are known as tribes. For foreign travellers you will not need to worry too much about translation services as many Zambians do speak or understand fluent English so there won’t be a need for professional Bemba translation services or Nyanja translation services however if you do visit rural areas for example filming documentaries or need legal translation services then the use of a professional translation agency may need to come into play.   

There are many more reasons to visit Zambia including the tasty food, lovely weather and wildlife which we will discuss in our next post about Zambia.  For now Stay tuned and “Tukamonana Limbi” (Bemba translation of ‘see you later’)!

How a ‘robot’ is offering legal advice to refugees

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You’re probably thinking oh no not another robot story! Well as many seem to think they will become more prominent within human society in years to come virtually performing tasks which today we as humans cannot comprehend a robot performing, we thought we might enlighten you on this story we came across where a robot is able to assist some of the most vulnerable in today’s society. Not all robots are bad and not all robots are here to steal human jobs as some may argue.

This robot developed by Joshua Browder a 20 year old British student currently studying at Stanford University in the US is not necessarily helping refugees through translation services although Browder intends to expand his chatbot from its current functionality through Facebook messenger into more applications like whatsapp and also other languages. For the not so tech savvy readers a chatbot is a computer programme which conversates via audio and text methods. The aim of such programmes is to allow for a human like conversation to take place between actual humans and technology.

Joshua Browder initially created his chatbot DoNotPay to help people challenge parking and speeding tickets having been frustrated with the amount of parking tickets he received since passing his driving test. With over 160,000 successful appeals he expanded his chatbot to help people in need of emergency housing and has now gone on to enable the chatbot to assist refugees and asylum seekers needing help on their immigration applications and funding. Browder’s app was created with the help of lawyers across the UK, USA and Canada and can now help refugees in each of these countries for example assisting UK asylum seekers with applying for financial support.

With many refugees coming in from regions such as the Middle East it may be a challenge for them to effectively use such software as presently the chatbot works in English and is not yet able to offer an Arabic translation service. In the US with many migrants from South America a need for Spanish translation services is valuable and this is something that the chatbot could add on in order to help a wider audience.

It goes without saying that technology is advancing at a fast pace but with inventions like Joshua Browder’s many people will be able to access the help they need much more easily.

What are your thoughts on this? We would like to hear your opinions.

Image: Screenshot, donotpay.co.uk

How ‘fake’ translation services got this man in deep trouble

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Translation services can come in all forms, it could be professional translations carried out by professional translators and interpreters and they could be specifically catered towards businesses for anything from tourism to retail translation services. Or individuals perhaps looking for quick translations that can be done through software’s which include the likes of Google translate. Translation services also cover a wide range of languages from around the world even lesser known languages up to more broadly spoken languages like English, Spanish, Mandarin, French and German translation services.

However whether you are using professional Mandarin translation services for legal documents or are just trying to get an Italian translation for something like “Where are the toilets?” One thing is for sure, they better be spot on! As one Tanzanian tourist guide found out.

A Tanzanian tourist guide who goes by the name of Saimon Sirikwa and works at one of the ten natural travel wonders of the world, the Northern Tanzanian Serengeti National Park was arrested and charged with breaching Tanzania’s cybercrime laws by producing what they are calling a ‘fake translation’ of a tourists words from English into Swahili in a video he uploaded onto his Facebook page. Here is what was said in the video:

Tourist: “Hi. My visit to Tanzania has been beautiful, gorgeous. The people are fabulously wonderful and friendly. Greetings are always jambo (“Hello” in Swahili). Happy to be here. The land is beautiful, beautiful. The animals are wonderful.”

Tour guide (translating into Swahili): “You Tanzanians complain/cry a lot about hunger. Every day you cry about hunger when you have flowers at home. Why don’t you boil the flowers and drink them. It is not good to cry/complain about hunger.”

Tourist: “The variety of animals and people you see is incredible, unlike anywhere else. It is just fabulous.”

Tour guide: “You are asking your president to cook for you. Do you think your president is a cook? Can you get busy, even boil your clothing and eat.”

Tourist: “It will be an experience to savour for all of your life. It is fantastic and beautiful and incredible and just unremarkable.”

Tour guide: “Get busy in every corner of the country. The president can’t leave State House to cook for you. You have to cook for yourselves.”

Despite Mr Sirikwa, who is known to be a comedian where he has been seen to regularly post comedy videos on his Facebook page, posting a second video with the tourist from the original video explaining it was all a joke and his love for his country as well as apologising to anyone offended. 

He was still accused of putting the Tanzanian tourism in a ‘bad light’ according to the police. With the regional police commander telling the BBC there was sufficient evidence to back up these claims that Mr Sirikwa had breached the legislation. The cybercrime law which was introduced in 2015 had been deemed to give the police “too much power” by politicians and activists alike. According to the BBC some correspondents noted that Mr Sirikwa’s joke translation was not unlike the words uttered by Tanzanian President John Magufuli when he told people at a rally to stop complaining about hunger.

So you can make your own mind up about that one. Let us know your thoughts.

Instant camera translation services?

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Are you about to go on your travels to experience a whole different culture and way of life but just don’t know the first thing about the language? Have you taken a new job abroad in order to broaden your horizons but have only learnt how to say hello in the native language? Or are you a first generation foreign-born individual who is visiting your parent’s homeland but have never bothered to learn the language of your ancestors? Well you probably should have put some effort into learning these languages but there is some good news for those who don’t have the time or don’t have the patience, these special translation services are perfect for you.

Google have offered us a unique fast translation service for the last year in which all you have to do is take a picture using the camera on your phone of the quote or sentence written in the language you want translated from and then it is instantly translated into whatever language you wish. For example if you were over in China and wanted to order food from a restaurant but had no idea what it was because the menu is written fully in Mandarin. Don’t panic! just whip out your phone head over to Google translate, set your language pairs e.g. Mandarin to English and click the camera icon and just like that you get an English translation and as a result you avoid ordering those prawns you hate. It also works the other way around where you will receive a Mandarin translation from the written English.

Google’s live camera translation feature can be used offline also by downloading the offline translation pack which is around 42MB with Google’s latest update adding the language pairs of Japanese to English and English to Japanese to the growing list of instant image translations. Of course this is never going to replace professional translation services carried out by human translator, but it’s definitely more convenient and useful in certain situations. So if you are ever in Munich reading German directions for some reason, you know you have portable German translation services at your fingertips, Or if you are out in Rome and even though you don’t speak Italian you choose the Italian menu anyway because you know you have Italian translation services in your back pocket.

Image by: Rich DeMuro

 

Translation services in a very loud way

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When you think of translation services you would usually think of one or more qualified translators looking at text in one language, comprehending it and then producing the same sentence in a whole  other language, sometimes a different alphabet for example when a translator translates a document from English to Hebrew as part of Hebrew translation services. Or you might envision an interpreter talking after someone to repeat back what they said in another language or maybe you would even think about translations in subtitles as part of a movie or television programme.

How about someone shouting translations in your face? Because that is exactly how Japanese electronic product giants Panasonic want you to see translation services. Just imagine yourself in a foreign land, lost and not able to speak the local language even to get by and just when you are about to give up hope your saviour turns up shouting something in your face that you can actually understand and this is all possible thanks to Panasonic.

This is because Panasonic have come up with a megaphone that is capable of automatically translating about 300 pre-set information and warnings messages from Japanese to English, Chinese and Korean in order to help companies deal with the increased foreign visitors coming to Japan. This really is the definition of retail translation services as Panasonic plan to obtain contracts to produce 10,000 units aimed for 2018.

The megaphone works in a way such as when the user speaks in Japanese into it; the software recognises the phrase and instantly translates into one of the three languages programmed into the megaphone so far, even if the sentences are incomplete. The estimated 300 pre-set sentences includes lines like “Watch your step” and “The train has been delayed,” and can even function with background noise which makes it perfect for places like train stations and airports. Although more phrases can be added through updates.

Panasonic have started offering the megaphone translation for around ¥20,000 ($183) per month based on a three-year contract with organisations such as the police already trialling these services since 2015. Depending on how well this product is received by the public, it could spell a very positive financial translation for the Osaka based company.

We think it is a great idea and something that can potentially expand greatly in the future. What are your thoughts on this?

 

Image by: Jason Hargrove via Flickr

New year; New language? Learning a new language: Part 2

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It is that time of the year again; well the end of the year where even though nothing really changes at the same time a whole lot can be changed. As we wave goodbye to 2016 and say hello to 2017 it can be and is widely embraced as a benchmark for better things or a shift in mentality if you will. New mind-set, new goals, new life and yes inevitably, “New Year, new me” posts on social media! But why not a new language? There are so many pros compared to the cons when learning a new language, imagine not having to rely on translation services all the time when you are traveling or the money saved on localisation services.

Following on from our first post on what to take into account when learning a new language we know that even though a lot of people will set new goals and new ways of thinking most will soon drift back into their old ways but fear not we are here to give you some tips on how to stay on track when you hit those oh so familiar speed bumps of the new year.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

When you set out to learn anything in order to grow yourself you will soon encounter some difficulties and learning a new language is no exception. When you are learning new words you only have to look at children as an example, they are not born speaking a language, they learn from their environments and experiment with words that they utter and the reactions they receive. They are not afraid to make mistakes or look foolish so why should you? Leave your ego at the door with 2016 because you will learn much more from making mistakes than not trying at all. You are not a professional translation agency you are going to make mistakes, it is part of life, learn from it!

Consistency is crucial

Consistency in general will get you through anything in life and when you do start learning from these mistakes alongside being consistent in acquiring your newfound language skills you will see yourself becoming more fluent. This would hopefully lead to a snowball effect where you should start gaining more confidence to attempt to carry out advanced conversations and as a result more of the language will stick with you which means you will not need that Mandarin translation service when you travel to China on that impulsive trip you booked as part of your New Year goals.

Remember why

Finally just like any other goal you want to achieve, remember exactly why you are doing this and remind yourself of this reason every time you feel your motivation slipping away! It could be a desire to learn a new language out of necessity like relocating for a job abroad or traveling to a certain country that requires so. On the other hand you could be learning a new language as a passion or part of your New Year resolution to yourself. But whatever your reason for learning a new lingo you will get that motivation back once you have thought about exactly why you started learning it in the first place.

Comment on your experiences of learning a new language.

Image by: Robert Lowe | Flickr

How interpreting and translation services influenced Brexit

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One of the most if not the most talked about event in the UK this past year has been that of the Brexit vote. The drama of the vote has seen the British public show their translation of their lack of faith in the European Union which they then decided on a vote to end ties with the EU and the agreements.

By voting to opt out of the EU with a view of an independent UK in control of their own borders and able to set up new trade agreements has led to a major split within the countries that make up the UK as the vote was a close one. Brexit had even seen former Prime Minister David Cameron, who previously campaign against the EU step down from his position which has since seen Theresa May take over as PM. Not to mention the financial translation the Brexit vote has had so far for the pound (GBP).

This major split has been highlighted in the way the media have gone about reporting the story and can be clearly seen in how the major newspaper services interpretation of the stories surrounding Brexit.  Of the major newspapers in the UK the Daily Mail and The Telegraph are pro Brexit whilst The Guardian is pro remain and this is clearly seen in their articles which has been underlined by Francesco Guerrera for Politico.eu, he compared both the Daily Mail’s and The Telegraph’s headlines in a recent speech by German chancellor Angela Merkel implying that Merkel had given in or softened her stance to adhere to the British government’s requests regarding immigration, with the main focus on the story being that she stated the EU will need to further discuss the laws on freedom of movement.

Angela Merkel did indeed say that but with headlines of “Merkel Hints at New Migration Limit” you would think its 1-0 to the UK. When in fact she went on to explain that freedom of movement within the EU is not negotiable as it is one of the four fundamental freedoms and rather than stop that Merkel was indicating a discussion on clamping down on “benefit tourism” which is where migrants abuse a countries welfare system. So you can clearly see the way these outlets influence their readers, perhaps it’s just isn’t professional German translation services they are using who knows.

But translation agencies beside, The Guardian themselves have admitted that 56% of their articles about Brexit have been led with headlines such as “the pound will weaken”, “unemployment will rise”, and “racism will increase”, to name a few but as you can see these extreme headlines are obviously put in place to have an influence of readers opinions.

It’s well known that media outlets are used in manipulating views and opinions; do you think you have been swayed by this? What do you make of these interpretations?

How this confusing translation led to a ‘heated’ argument

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In the world of languages, translation services and professional translation agencies there is always going to be some difficulties as are the complexities of languages. For every one flawless translation example there is most likely going to be a few erroneous, problematic and mistake riddled translations. These you would usually find are DIY, google translated types of translations which are completely fine when it’s not for professional use for say any business or organisation of any reputation because these mistakes will have an inevitable effect on how clients or potential clients will view your professional image and operations.

We have already shown you how a bad translations has negatively affected a company such as Tesla here, however on the other hand we have also shown you some terrible examples of Mandarin translation services to hilarious effect here. But very rarely these translation fails could have such a comedic effect that it becomes viral and is reported around the world, which in turn could actually help boost a business/organisations audience to reach more people more than anything else.

This is exactly what happened in Japan recently in an episode of localisation services gone wrong as reported by twitter user Domoboku whose real name is Akiyama Kojiro from Tokyo. It all started in a Japanese convenience store when a non-native man took a bottle of lemon iced tea off the shelf and started to drink it without paying; as you can imagine this resulted in a heated argument between the man and the shop’s cashier, with neither speaking the same language before Kojiro intervened.

You will probably be thinking the shopper was in the wrong but in his defence he was not to blame but rather the miscalculated Japanese to English translated brand name on the bottle. The reason why the man was not to blame was because the drink which is produced by Pokka Sapporo had in clear English words ‘FREE Tea’ on the bottle, (See image below) other than that everything else was Japanese. It turns out that this is just the brand name and not an offer, which according to Kojiro anyone could easily confuse as given the amount of freebies you receive in Japan. A quick look on the website explains that the drink “encourages people to be free from a stress-filled society,” hence the name.

localisation services

Image credit: @domobuku

Kojiro’s account on this ironic incident has seen his post attract over 34k retweets and more than 19k likes, leading to a discussion of people sharing their own translation fail stories. A lesson for everyone to take from this is whether you need English, French, Spanish or Hebrew translation services make sure it’s done professionally and localised too or if you are going to make a mistake, make it so funny and bizarre that it leads to a viral sensation to reach a massive population.

Why Trump’s comments are an ‘impossible’ translation service

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Unless you have been living under a rock these past months you probably have heard the rather explosive and sometimes tedious popularity contest that is the US presidential election race. The Presidential election race, for those who may not know is mainly contested between 2 polarising parties the left-winged Democrats who have selected former first lady Hilary Clinton as their leader and the right-winged Republicans which is led by American billionaire businessman Donald Trump, who if you don’t know is a straight talker to put it mildly. This blunt and abrasive way of speaking that Donald Trump employs can either make you love or hate him and one set of people who fall into the latter category, other than Democrats are those who offer translations services.

Translators and interpreters across the world who are there to keep their respective nations up to date on what is one of the most widely publicised presidential debates of any country to date are finding themselves in a bit of a bother when it comes to providing a fast translation service of Trump’s speeches in their native tongues. As if translating political affairs into other languages isn’t sensitive and tricky enough, translators have to deal with Trump’s unorthodox way of speaking which could sometimes yield some interesting results.

One twitter user @tylerantichrist commented on an interpreter providing German translation services on a German radio show for the elections that she felt sorry for the interpreter as he had explained his friends teased him because he had to first emphasise with Trump in order to quickly translate his comments into German.

There is also an example on The Huffington Post showing trump’s misogynistic and offensive language which has had a Mandarin translation which actually makes him sound worse. The words that have been translated makes his comments sound even more sexist and sometimes racist in other languages. On the other hand when some of his harsh and brash comments are translated into other languages it sometimes has the reverse effect and makes his tone sound softer when his intentions may be otherwise. For instance he was criticised and mocked for rudely interrupting and shouting “Wrong!” but when translated into Spanish “Es falso” which means that is not true actually made him sound civil.

With less than two weeks to go until America elects a new president, whether its Hilary or Donald, whether you love or hate Donald Trump, you can’t say he’s not entertaining.

Image credit: Gage Skidmore

Is there any chance to save endangered languages?

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What can be done to save languages on the brink of extinction?

The definition of an endangered language is so complex that it is hard to narrow down it just to one simple definition. The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) whose values include supporting global education so as every child has access to quality education and building cultural understanding among nations, have managed to categorise the definition of endangered languages into 5 groups highlighted below.

endangered-languages

Source: Moseley, Christopher (ed.). 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn. Paris, UNESCO Publishing. Online version.

The latest Atlas of the Worlds Languages in Danger which was published in English, Spanish and French by UNESCO has estimated there to be around 3000 endangered languages worldwide. This alarming number leads to the question whether such languages can be saved and whether they are worth saving?

For many decades English has been referred to as the global language and is the official language in as many as 60+ countries such that it is the language used in education, work and government. Although that maybe the case, many people in these countries where English is the official language commonly use their native languages and also pass these languages onto their children and thus the language is preserved from generation to generation. Take a country like Zambia where the majority of people who have gone to school speak and write in English, you will find that many of them also speak languages like Bemba and Nyanja mostly at home with family but also when communicating with friends. Although such examples show that languages like Bemba will not become extinct anytime soon if ever, there are many other languages where even fewer than 10 people are able to communicate. Languages like Kuuku Ya’u an aboriginal language now spoken by only 9 people is classified as critically endangered on its way to extinction (Source: UNESCO).

Causes

Before finding a solution to any problem you first have to look at the cause. For many languages the causes of them being extinct are varied and these causes include a lack of incentive to learn the language where learning another language brings more benefits both economically and socially. History has taught us this through colonialism by the British and French Empire where those languages combined are now the official languages of over 100 countries worldwide which has not always been the case. Other causes for language endangerment include natural disasters famine and diseases. War and famine have also in the past contributed to languages becoming extinct.

Effects

The loss of languages can have negative effects in a people’s culture as some may experience a loss of identity. Speaking a language specific to your region brings a sense of identity for many people and that is why when a community loses its language it often loses part of its culture e.g. it may lose its songs, poetry and teachings which may not necessarily translate well into another language. Other effects may be a loss of political legitimacy for example in some African and Asian countries traditional leaders may lose their voice in favour of political leaders which could potentially have negative consequences for their own people.

Solutions

As far as solutions go there are several parties concerned and actively working towards the prevention of language extinction. Governements, NGO’s and international bodies such as the EU and UNESCO as well as for profit companies are all working in one way or another for this cause.

For example a new start-up Tribalingual which aims to teach endangered languages in order to prevent them from extinction has started with 3 dialects; “Ojibwe, an endangered musical language in North America; Tulu, a South Indian language that is passed down orally only and doesn’t have a writing system; and Ainu, the language of a marginalised indigenous tribe in Japan, with less than 10 speakers worldwide”. Read more at Cambridge News.

What are your thoughts? how do you think languages can be prevented from extinction?

3 ways you didn’t know how translation services could help your business

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So you decided to take the leap of faith and take your life back into your own hands and started your own business. First of all hats off to you for taking the plunge. You have been running your business pretty successfully for a while now and through your products or services you have built up a decent brand identity, customer base and a steady income, congratulations to you, seriously give yourself a pat on the back!

This is because as we know an estimated 55% of start-ups in the UK fail to make it past the 5 year mark let alone find any success. But this leaves you at the very awkward and uncharted stage of whether you want to carry on being a stable business maybe looking to grow a little more or find a new strategy or market to expand or grow you current business? Maybe you want to attract new customers or maybe you just want to please your existing customers for the loyalty they have shown you. Well one much overlooked tool that you could utilise to help your business is none other than professional translation services.

Growth

The growth of a business is seen as a key stage in a business’s life span. Growth serves as a motivation for any entrepreneur who has ambitions to live off of their own earnings which is one of the main reasons behind starting a business in the first place, for the growth of one’s business does financially translate. With the help of translation services your business could discover new markets with a whole new customer base which could potentially bring more success to your business in the long run. This is a very risky strategy which requires a lot of research and consideration but from those big risks you could reap the big rewards.

Localisation

Different countries and regions have different customs and varied ways of doing things. This is why localisation services are of the utmost importance when considering setting up business operations in not only just other markets with different languages but also countries and regions who communicate through the same dialect. For example you might find success in the way you promote your business in the UK but it won’t necessarily translate across the pond in the US because there are even significant differences in UK and US English which is why it is crucial to localise your content.

Localisation is even more vital when you translate into different languages because it is not enough to just get a professional translation but it is also important to get help in what colours and images to use as well as type of products to sell. So if you are a BBQ restaurant who is looking for Hebrew translation services to set up operations in Israel it would best that pork ribs are a left off the menu.

Professional image

Having your existing website or advertisements available in numerous languages just smacks of professionalism as it shows evidence that the business is reliable enough to be run in several different countries. It could give a potential new customer the confidence to go with you rather than somewhere else, because sometimes even if they have no prior knowledge of your business just seeing you have an English, French, Spanish and Italian translation of your website could mean the difference between a sale and no sale, because a business appearing to operate in many countries must be doing something right?

Image: Colby Stopa

Can these two ‘languages’ really get lost in translation?

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Here’s a story from the good people at the Daily Mail which depicts the tiny differences between two different ‘language’ pairs that share a lot of the same words, in fact they are largely the same.

Now when we are talking about tiny differences between languages which share some same words, we are not talking about similar language pairs like Spanish to Portuguese translation, which both share the Iberian branch of the Romance language group or even languages that originate from the same country such as a Mandarin translation of a Cantonese word or phrase.

The Daily Mail, in actual fact has provided a sort of translation service for the language pair of…….English to English! You would be right to think that they might be going mad here but in truth the two types of English languages we are talking about is the UK Standard and American Standard English which you’ll find out has quite a few differences in which certain words do not match or translate over the other side of the pond.

Thanks to the mass ‘Americanisation’ (or US spelling ‘Americanization’) of the UK through Hollywood movies and US television programs, music and retail translations; Brits are more likely to be clued on certain American lingo than the Americans on UK terms, concluding that it is American English that holds a bigger dominance over UK English. This comes after airline giant British Airways conducted a survey of 2,000 individuals which were split 50% British and 50% Americans to see whether they could decipher each other’s common words or expressions.

British words and phrases that Americans found it hard to grasp where things like ‘brew’ (drink) where 60% had no idea what it meant and ‘titchy’ in which a massive 94% did not know meant ‘small’. Over a third also had an idea about what the cockney term ‘knees up’ (celebration) meant, albeit the wrong and x rated adult description. Where on the other hand majority of Brits understood what Americans meant by ‘zip code’ (post code) and ‘eggplant’ (aubergine) although almost 75% of Brits did not know what ‘broil’ (cook) had meant as well as a massive 93% not knowing Americans use ‘arugula’ for salad rocket.

The survey also found the words we do share often have different pronunciations with Americans finding the British pronunciations of ‘vase’ (varse), ‘schedule’ (sked-ule) and ‘vitamin’ (vit-a-min) the most irritating; Whereas British people found the American pronunciations of ‘aluminium’ (alu-mi-num) and ‘math’ the most annoying.

Although it isn’t all bad having a British accent as it seems to make you more attractive to Americans who associate Brits with ‘class’ but, however they also think of Brits as ‘having bad teeth’. But all in all this hasn’t affected our relationships as both Brits and Americans mutually agreed that each cultures have had a positive effect on each other’s despite the minor language barrier.

 

Which company failed with translation services?

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Tesla Motors, Inc is an automotive production company who are famous for being the biggest car manufactures that produce solely fully electronic road-worthy cars. The company was fittingly named after the Serbian-American engineer Nikola Tesla whose ideas are now seen ahead of his time as he advocated the likes of wireless technology and electrical use. The now owner and CEO of the electric car manufacturers is South African born, Canadian-American business mogul and innovator, the one and only Elon Musk who had previous successes most notably with X.com (PayPal) and SpaceX, which aims to find a sustainable habitat for humans outside of Earth. Since the company’s inception in 2003 it has seen its fair shares of ups and downs over the years from being heralded as the saviour of the ozone layer as well as controversies ranging from the reliability of the electric cars batteries especially in cold weather to their website being compromised. But who knew that a translation error or rather the lack of accurate translation services would affect them?

This comes after the news that on 2nd August a 32 year old man from Beijing named Luo Zhen who had recently purchased a Model S had a minor accident with a parked car because he had been told and shown by the sales manager who sold him the car that the Model S was a self-driving car and that he could drive with no hands. Lou took his eyes off the road and hands off the wheel which resulted in the crash. Lou criticised the sales tactic stating that “They did not clarify the risks” and “It can easily mislead people to overuse the function.” The accident resulted in no injuries with only a scratch to the Model S. But Tesla has reacted quickly though with a fast translation alteration.

The original Mandarin translation had read the car was had a ‘self-driving system’ which has now been changed to a ‘driver-assistance system’ to clear up the confusion. Gary Tao, Tesla’s Beijing spokesman aimed a statement on their website towards this incident to clear it all up. Tao explained “We hope to clarify that it is a driving-assisting function and hope people can use it in a correct way,” he also said he did not know about Lou’s test drive. All in all, this incident should not disrupt Tesla’s innovation in which many see them as the future of automobiles.

Whether it’s bad localisation services or just a simple error what are your thoughts on this miscommunication?

You won’t believe what this famous Disney line’s English translation is

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Ah, good old Disney, when most people think about their childhood they are bound to have some sort of memory watching a film produced by The Walt Disney Company. The company that was founded by Walt Disney and his brother Roy O. Disney in 1923 as the ‘Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio’ has become one of the most instantly recognisable brands in the world boasting films, TV shows, TV channels, merchandise, theme parks and much more. All of these retail operations have led to a phenomenal financial translation for Disney over the years.

With the help of translation services Disney are able to have an impact on generations or young children around the world. Whether you are young or old you will know at least a few of the Disney films, characters and songs to go with the films.

Whether you grew up watching the first feature film released by Disney in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney’s main character Micky Mouse who made his first appearance in ‘Fantasia’ (1940), or other iconic characters both new and old such as Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, Mulan, Minnie Mouse, Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, Aladdin, the list just goes on and on. All of the movies that have starred these Disney characters have been viewed and translated across the globe from French, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish, Hebrew and even a Romanian translation!

So it is good news for the generation of 20 and 30 somethings that one of the movies of ‘their time’ has finally had a translation, albeit not a very fast translation as it comes a whole 22 years after its initial release. The film in question is none other than the timeless classic The Lion King which takes place in a kingdom of lions in Africa, details the story a lion named Simba who is the son of the king Mufasa who is murdered by his brother to succeed him as king, basically a lion version of Hamlet. The story features many elements amongst others are a love story, coming of age, betrayal, and a song from Elton John.

However one of the most popular takeaways of the film is the start of the song ‘The Circle of Life’. Most of us don’t even know or thought about what the words are but the direct English translation has now been revealed. Rather than most of our renditions of the start which resemble a shouting rambles of a madman, the words are actually of the Zulu language “Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba / Sithi uhm ingonyama” (you definitely tried to sing it whilst reading) and the translation of this familiar line is not what you would expect but after 22 years waiting we can finally reveal the translation to be *drum roll* “There comes a lion. Oh yes, it’s a lion.”

Pretty underwhelming and absolutely sounds better in Zulu but those who were having sleepless nights trying to figure out what it meant can now rest easy at night.

Image: Pedro Plassen Lopes

What is the Romanian translation for ‘Brexit?’

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Or more to the point what is the Romanian translation for ‘remain?’ If you are one of the large group of ‘remainers’ of which the outcome of the Brexit vote has left a sour taste in your mouth and left you with no or little hope for your future outside of the European Union, then surprisingly Romania just might be the answer for you!

You do not need to be of Romanian descent, speak the Romanian language or to even have stepped foot in the country so there would be no need for a professional translation agency or their translation services if you were to emigrate.

“Why?!” I hear you gasp, well a daily online newspaper in Romania’s capital Bucharest called Gândul (Romanian to English translation: The thought) with the help of local advertising agency GMP Advertising have launched a campaign to re-home disgruntled remain voters who accounted for a massive 48% or just over 16 million British citizens.

The cleverly titled campaign “Romanians adopt Remanians” aims to attract the remainers by promising a chance to leave the “Brexiters” behind with the bad weather in hope to start a new life in Romania which is very much a part of the EU.

The way in which the campaign works via a Facebook app is to pair up the unhappy Brits with “loving Romanian families” to adopt them in order to apply for a Romanian ID.

As well as having the section for the British remain citizens there is also a section for local Romanian volunteers to sign up to aid “the good people” of the UK who casted their votes to remain part of the EU as they “share European values deserve to be our relatives” (TheGuardian). Although there is no mention for those who voted to leave initially but have since had a change of heart, they are known as ‘Regrexiters’.

This initiative is largely the reverse considering that immigration into the UK has been a massive talking point amongst a relatively large section of the British population and media outlets. Gândul had previously run a campaign at the peak of these fears of mass immigrations in 2014 when restrictions were lifted for Romanians and Bulgarians to come in and out the UK. The campaign called #WhyDontYouComeOver was a counter campaign aimed at Britons to immigrate the other way with offers of jobs and accommodation amongst other things.

Tell us your thoughts, fancy moving to Romania?

Image: Jeff Djevdet

Backlash for Fiat Argentina due to misogynistic car manual

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Backlash for Fiat Argentina due to misogynistic car manual

Another day another story of big brands simply producing non-thoughtful content (sighs)! Now in this case it wasn’t your typical lack of well researched information or a lack of professional translation services to translate content from one language to another, it instead was almost a ride back to the past where misogyny was very prevalent in advertising and mainstream media.  The topic in question relates to the car giant that is Fiat and specifically its Argentinian base.

The topic in question relates to a pamphlet Fiat handed out alongside its official handbook to new customers who purchased a car. What is in the pamphlet is what is shocking and has outraged many people specifically a women’s groups in Argentina with one  specific group called ‘Ni una menos’ of which the Spanish to English translation means ‘Not one less’ taking to Facebook to summarise the blatant misogynistic content that was found in the pamphlet.

Some of the content that was written reads:

“If a lady’s skirt is too short, we recommend that she travel in the backseat to keep our concentration.”

It also reads; “if the skirt is not that short but you tend to have a wandering hand, she should also travel behind.”

The booklet which seems to give advice to the male buyer also seemed to address the male driver as ‘driver with love’ and the female companion as ‘co-pilot’.

The pamphlet which referred to women as “co-pilot” stated that “any woman who aspires to become a co-pilot must at least have nice legs”.

Many people have taken to Twitter to air their frustrations towards the Italian company which has led to Fiat Argentina’s representative issuing an apology on their official twitter account stating that they had never intended any “disrespect”.

Fiat has also withdrawn their car pamphlet amid the backlash received.

Let us know your thoughts.

Fiat image source: nick@

Is this the most racist advert ever?

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A Chinese washing powder advert has been doing the rounds on the internet recently, now you might think a washing powder ad what’s the worst that could happen? You are probably thinking how can something as mundane as washing powder possibly go viral? Well this Chinese retail advertisement did just that and more which has led it to be seen as one of the biggest controversies of recent times, it has even been dubbed as the ‘most racist commercial ever’.

The advert in question was one commissioned by the Shanghai Leishang Cosmetics Ltd for their Qiaobi laundry detergent. There are no words spoken in the video so there was no need for retail translations services as mostly comical music and sound effects were used.

It features a young Asian actress and a black actor, the actor who has paint marks on his face from working, eyes the woman who is assumed to be the homeowner who smiles back at the man whilst standing beside a washing machine. He ‘wolf-whistles’ the woman then approaches her and puts his hands on her waist and goes in for a kiss, the woman at this point stuffs a washing tablet into his mouth and throws him into the washing machine where you hear comical screams as the lady sits on top of the lid to keep it shut, let’s be honest in reality that would be brutal and lead to a prison sentence. After the cycle has finished and most shockingly a fair-skinned Asian man emerges from the washing machine much to the woman’s adulation. He then holds the brands product to the screen and winks.

Now you don’t need Mandarin translation services to tell you what is going on here, in fact this advert will translate into any language in the world as a massive mistake.

After all this global condemning and outrage of the advert Leishang Cosmetics have apologised for any ‘harm’ they caused to African people and expressed their condemnation of racial discrimination. They also went on further to say that they take full responsibility of the content and that the media have ‘over-amplified’ the situation. Make of that what you will.

What are your thoughts on this? Have they gone too far or is this simply naivety?

Credit to Benoit Florençon

Has this new creation changed translation services forever?

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A clever little idea that could soon render all forms of translation services useless has just been released! But before everyone in the world of linguistics and translations loses their minds let me just reassure you, that was a complete over exaggeration. Maybe not something to put an end to the $33 billion valued global industry but definitely an idea worth a mention. The idea and now product line in question is not a ground breaking, highly advanced, technological gizmo. It is not a real time translation app or service in fact it does not even require electricity or batteries at all and it is wearable.

What can this product be? I hear you frantically ask. Well it is a T-shirt, yes a normal printed T-shirt. The Iconspeak T-shirt is simple but yet effective and is perfect for anyone on their travels around the word who have not yet mastered or bother to learn any of the language or languages they might come across on their foreign encounter. The Iconspeak T-shirt is designed to help you get through basic situations as the shirt has printed on it 40 universal icons in a grid format. From a telephone to a toilet, from bed to wi-fi, all you would have to do is point to the specific icon you require in order to convey your message across the language barriers. Clever stuff?

Say you were in Germany and had no idea what the German word for nightclub is and had no access to German translation services and not one person around you knew what you were talking about, well all you would have to do with the Iconspeak T-shirt would be to point to the music sign and do a little one-two step then problem solved.

Alternatively if you were in Portugal and had no access to Portuguese translation services and needed to us a toilet, you would simply point out the toilet sign on the T-shirt and you can probably guess what happens next. It just goes to show that despite all these technological advances in recent years, you might not always get an internet connection which many of these heavily rely on, your battery could run out or you might not have access to electrical supply. So you might save a lot of time and money by just pointing out a picture of what you want to help you in a variety of situations.

What are your thoughts on this? Leave a comment below.

How accurate is Google Translate when Russia is translated to ‘Mordor’

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Anyone familiar with world politics will know that over the years there has been tension between Eastern European country Ukraine and Eurasian country Russia. Just when you thought couldn’t get any worse, the most popular machine translation platform Google Translate managed to muddle up some sensitive words when it came to the translation of words from Ukrainian into Russian. Needless to say had this been for professional or business use, professional Russian translation services should have been sought after.

Reports by Russia’s News state news agency RIA Navosti stated that words relating to Russia and one of its politicians were improperly translated from Ukrainian to Russian. The words that were interpreted were insulting and demeaning to Russia and its people. The words in question include the phrase Russian Federation which translated into Russian as Mordor when inserted into Google translate. Mordor is a fictional place in the world created by writer J. R. R. Tolkien which is most known for its depiction the Lord of the Rings as an evil place where cruelties such as torture are an occurrence. Newsweek reported that Pro-Ukranian groups took to the term when referring to Russia. Newsweek also reported that when translating the last name of Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, the machine translation interpreted his name as ‘sad-little-horse’. Another glitch which was spotted was the word Russians which when translated from Ukrainian read as ‘occupiers’ in the Russian language.

Whether or not this was a result of successful hacking or perhaps just a machine error, Google did respond by saying that Google Translate “worked by looking for patterns in hundreds of millions of documents but translation remained difficult as the meaning of words was tied to the context in which they were used”. “This means that not all translations are perfect, and there will sometimes be mistakes or mistranslations”.

Such happenings always create a debate as to whether platforms such as google translate are reliable when it comes to website content translation or even Russian financial document translation to be specific. Google has stated that ‘although translations are conducted automatically it is possible for users to suggest alternative translations manually’ which can sometimes leave room for biased results. The best way to be sure to receive an accurate translation is to use translation services by human translators especially when you are translating for work, legal or educational purposes.

Have a comment about this? Let us know your thoughts below.

Retail translation services gone wrong?

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The increasingly popular supermarket retailer Aldi have been doing a lot right in terms of muscling in on the ‘big four’ supermarkets in the UK and successfully creating a brand identity for value for money but they have caused a bit of commotion recently. There are claims from some that the German budget chain has been insensitive and ‘racist’ towards Scottish people in one of their new advertisements. This is well and truly a case of retail translation services gone bad.

The advert in question was a radio advert that aired on Australian radio to promote Aldi’s whiskey range. The advert features a Scotsman who announces himself as the head distiller for Aldi’s own-brand whisky accompanied by the unmistakable sound of bagpipes whilst an Englishwoman supplies a voiceover for the Scotsman for a fast translation into ‘English’ despite the Scot’s objections that he is already speaking English.

The advert received a complaint of racism from an expat Scottish national which prompted the Australian Advertising Board to investigate. The complainant who was not impressed, explained how the advert depicts the stereotype that Scots are hard to understand and insisted if it were an aboriginal who received a translation service there would be an ‘uproar’ and question why it was ok to be ‘racist’ towards the Scottish.

The complaint however was rejected by the board who stipulated that the promotion was intended to be more humorous rather than racist. The board ruled that the advert suggest that the Scottish man’s accent is likely to be harder to understand to the average person but is in fact completely clear and the use of a translator adds to the humour of the advert. They also state it is not acceptable to make fun of a person’s accent regardless of nationality but in this case it is the translator that is the one that looks ‘silly’ because there is no need for her translation whilst the Scotsman is not presented with a negative stereotype at all.

Aldi had commented to the board saying that this is just one of a series of light-hearted advertisements which will see other accents such as the French and New Zealand accents used in the same way.

Photo credit: Mike Mozart

What are your thoughts?

What unexpected language has got a German translation?

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Languages, translations and globalisation are truly wonderful things because without these key factors we would not be able to communicate with the rest of the world, we would not be able to know the things we know now or learn new things from different cultures. Professional translation services are great in aiding this as it has allowed even the most obscure language to be understood all over the world.

A language such as the Ho-Chunk language of the Winnebago tribe of Wisconsin and Nebraska which is only spoken by a total of 11 people in the world or the Tinigua language of Colombia which is said to derive from no other language and is only fluently spoken by 2 people! Yes only 2 people left are known to speak Tinigua. Although these languages are translatable I highly doubt you would require a service such as Tinigua financial translation services, but you get the point.

Now one other obscure language has finally been given a translation, this time a German translation service. Is it a rare Amazonian tribal language from a tribe that has only just made contact with the modern world; a lost African language only spoken by the elders; or something with an exotic back-story along those lines? Nope! Not even close.

The language in question is none other than the Merseyside dialect of the Scouse community. Yes that’s right you can now finally get a Scouse to German translation service. All our prayers have been answered! We could thank God but it was German football team FC Augsburg who rather comically provided their traveling fans with a German translation of known Scouse sayings ahead of their trip to Anfield for the first leg of the Europa League’s last 32 round. The Scouse phrases included “Lad” (Boy/Man) which translated into “Alter” and “Mi head’s chocka” (???) in German “Ich kann nicht klar denken”. FC Augsburg eventually lost 1-0 to Liverpool over two legs to end their cup run, but at least the Germans can now feel comfortable knowing what a “Bevvie” is.

See the full list of translations below.

A translation mix up in Sweden

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A bit of a light hearted story coming out of the municipality of Helsingborg in Sweden. This story demonstrates just how translation services could go badly wrong due to the vast complexities of languages. Now let me set the scene for you, you just arrive in a new country, an environment completely alien to you, the buildings are different, the weather is different, the people are different and you don’t speak a word of the language so communication is hard to come by. Well this is the predicament that newly arrived Romanian immigrants to Sweden were facing.

Now you would think that if you were in the position of the Romanian migrants, you would like to establish some form of contact when you need to speak to the Swedish authorities or health care staff and this is exactly what the Helsingborg council tried to do in order to cater to the migrants. They did this by providing translators and interpreters but there was one huge error. According to Helsingborg’s newspaper ‘Dagblad’ the translators and interpreters provided spoke a completely different language to that of the Romanians. Instead of offering Romanian translation services they had mistakenly chose Romany translators, an Indo-Aryan language which is known as a ‘gipsy’ language whereas Romanian has its roots in Latin.

The difference between the two languages was highlighted by an expert Romanian linguist, Lucian Bagiu who explained “Romanians don’t understand Romany any more than a Swede does, you could say that there are more similarities between Romanian and Swedish than between those two languages and Romany.”

It is understandable how the mix up could have come about, through the similarities of the names of the languages. One of the Romanian immigrants commented saying that they “did not understand anything, not a word” before the actual Romanian translators were brought in. Although Per Pehrsson, a Helsingborg official explained that there were no problems faced in communicating with the Romanians regardless of the mix up, he stated “We haven’t had any problem communicating with these people with the assistance of the interpreters we have.”

What are your thoughts on this?

What are the best languages to learn and why?

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With globalisation at an ever increasing rate people don’t stay in the same city/country/place they were born and brought up in anymore. Nowadays people tend to travel for all sorts of reasons whether it is backpack traveling for leisure, for business or work purposes you will not be surprised to see communities fused with different cultures at any given time. With this has come a very common glitch that is language barriers. Have you ever been on holiday in a foreign country and tried to ask where the toilet was and the only way was pointing towards your private regions to get your message across? Well depending on who you were speaking to, their interpretation of your query may have differed to your intent. There is however a solution to that, one is you can use translation services to get your message across in a different language or you can learn the language yourself.
With that being said let’s take a look at six languages worth learning today based on performing economies and/or job/business prospects in no particular order.

1. Mandarin
Well this is an obvious one, the language spoken in China and also being one of the official languages of Singapore both booming economies, it is no surprise that the Mandarin language is at the top of the list. Over the years China become a global force to be reckoned with and is rapidly becoming one of the biggest economies in the world. With that being said it is important to note that learning mandarin is not an easy task for English speakers. The language itself has been classed as one of the hardest to learn with some schools in the UK making studying Mandarin compulsory for 13 year olds as reported by The Telegraph.

2. Portuguese
Portuguese is the official language of Portugal as well as Brazil. The language is not only spoken by over 200 million people in Brazil alone but it is also the first language for its inhabitants and official business language in the region. Alongside Portuguese, having a good grasp of the English language as well as Spanish (which is predominantly spoken by surrounding Latin nations) is sought after by Brazilian employers and is also likely to broaden your business prospects.

3. Japanese
Placed 3rd in the list of top 10 biggest economies in the world Japan is a global force to be reckoned with. Its profound influence in sectors such as automobile manufacturing and electronics has made Japan an attractive place for business and work. Its rich culture is also an attractive place for tourists with the reporting that an estimated 14 million people visited Japan between January and September 2015. A huge opportunity for English speakers to teach in japan has been around for years and has been a popular option for English degree holders. Average monthly salaries for teaching English in Japan are around 250,000 Japanese yen roughly 1,357 British pounds. This is a good way to earn money whilst you learn Japanese which can increase your work prospects once you get a good understanding of the language.

4. Russian
Russia has had somewhat of a rocky relationship with the UK with one contributing factor being the Russian-Ukraine conflict. Despite Russia’s ‘rocky’ relationship with the West, the country is among the top 10 biggest economies of the world. Not only that, Russia is listed amongst the biggest markets for exports of UK goods with around 600 U companies having a Physical presence in Russia according to UK Trade and Investment (UKTI).

5. Arabic
Arabic is predominantly spoken by countries of the Middle East and North Africa. The Middle East in particular possess huge opportunities for businesses to trade within this oil rich region of the world. Countries such as Qatar and Kuwait have attracted expats from all over the world to work within the oil industry which boats huge rewards. Learning Arabic will surely teach you valuable language skills which can be used to your advantage in over 20 countries. For students this could also help your scholarship horizons.

6. German
Germany has had a big influence on the UK economy in a sense that it is the biggest trade import partner by value according to UKTI. Germanys economy is a very attractive one for both job and business prospects. With the population of Germany estimated to be over 80 million of which for the majority of people living there German is their first language. Germany is one of the major languages sought after by graduate recruiters with speakers of both English and German having an advantage in the recruitment process. This applies heavily for multi-national corporations and is desirable for hiring investment banks as highlighted by Target Jobs.

What languages do you think are the most worth learning? Leave us a comment below.

Why musician Prince is hitting the headlines

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The artist formally known as Prince, who a year later in 1994 changed his name back to Prince; famous for being eccentric, controversial, pioneering and often just damn right bizarre. Whatever your opinions of him, he is a musical legend having sold over 100 million records worldwide and at the same time picking up an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and 7 Grammys, there’s no doubting his credibility.

In a career that spans nearly 40 years Prince has made countless headlines, but why is he hitting the headlines now? Well not so much Prince himself but rather his work, more specifically the album and movie of the same name which was loosely based on Prince’s rise to the top had between them sold over 13 million copies in the US alone and spent 24 straights weeks at number 1 as well as winning an Academy Award and grossing over $80 million (£53m), the legendary ‘Purple Rain’. The reason being is that Purple Rain the movie is set to be remade. You would be forgiven to think the movie would have received a French, Spanish, German or even Hebrew translation! Not even close.

The movie has been remade in none other than the Western African Saharan Republic of Niger. Yes that’s right, The Republic of Niger. Now you might consider that to be a bit odd or the fact that the remake is aimed at the Tuareg people of Niger who probably have no idea who Prince is, but what’s worse and even stranger is there is no direct translation for the word ‘purple’, instead of ‘Purple Rain’ the Tuareg version is ‘Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai’ which translates into a rather long-winded awkward title of ‘Rain the Colour of Blue with a Little Red in It’.

For those of you thinking this must be some sort of a joke, the low budget Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai or Rain the Colour of Blue with a Little Red in It has actually become quite popular in Niger as it follows real life musician Mdou Moctar’s rise to the top as he rides his purple or blue with a little bit of red bike around the city of Agadez.

But there is some truth in the idea that this remake is some sort of joke as Christopher Kirkley, the co-writer and director of the remake confirmed when speaking to The Guardian “It started out as a joke, the idea to take this cult film from the west and remake it in the Sahara. But we realised if we took the original story and modified it, the remake would reflect the lives of every guitarist in the Tuareg community.”

What are your thoughts?

A story originally reported on The Guardian.

Are our languages shaped by the heat in our environments?

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An interesting new theory has arisen recently on just how our languages have developed, but could it really be down to the heat of the environment? Take the English language for example, with consonant heavy words such as ‘catchphrase’ in the vocabulary; it comes as no surprise that the language evolved in a cold, open environment. Well at least not to Ian Maddieson, a University of Mexico linguist as he explains how consonants do not translate well in dense forests or mountain ranges. “If you have a lot of tree cover, for example, [sound] will reflect off the surface of leaves and trunks. That will break up the coherence of the transmitted sound.” Although vowel sounds such as “a” and “e” are able to transmit much further through a dense environment, whereas consonant are likely to be drowned out.

translation services

Dense Rainforest

Added to the environmental factors, the heat factor could have a hand in shaping how words and sounds travel as in warm climates; the sun creates pockets of warm air that can affect the sound waves. As Maddieson explains “You disrupt the way it was originally produced, and it becomes much harder to recognize what sound it was.”

interpreting services

Open cool environment

Maddieson backs up this theory by further illustrating that an open, cooler environment produces a consonant thick language such as the Georgian language whereby on the other hand, compared to a warm, dense ecosystem such as Hawaii a language consisting of very few consonants have occurred. “In a more open, temperate landscape, prairies in the Midwest of the United States [or in Georgia] for example, you wouldn’t have that. So the sound would be transmitted with fewer modifications.”

Tecumseh Fitch, a linguist of the University of Vienna, who was not part of this study, has put forward an argument using bird songs which could relate to human languages developed in forest habitats. Fitch suggests that when a bird in a forest sings “Stree! Stree! Stree!” due to the thick, humid environment, others interpret and learn the song as “Ree! Ree! Ree!” as the “St” has filtered out through the environment.

Fitch, although impressed and intrigued by Maddieson’s hypothesis, proposes that there are too many factors involved in a formation of a language and until more research is carried out it is hard to know exactly, thus the hypothesis remains unproven.

Sean Roberts, a researcher from the Netherlands at Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, also not involved in the study champions such research carried out by Maddieson and claims that Maddieson’s hypothesis is just the start of research into how nature shapes our languages. Roberts further concludes that he has found that dry, empty places are unlikely to ever have developed tonal languages such as Mandarin. He even studied decade’s worth of Larry King transcripts, claiming he matched the days for the humidity data and on the dry days, Larry King used more consonants.

A story originally reported on http://www.npr.org

What are your views on this interesting piece of research?

How your business can benefit from professional translation services

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When it comes to doing business this day and age, as much as traditional fundamentals of business continue to be practiced technology advancement has contributed to the change in the way we do things. For instance most retail companies prior to the year 2000 could only target their local geographical region unless they had big budgets for tv commercials and customers willing to travel long distances, they were limited to specific regions. Post 2000 when the use of internet began to escalate a new window of opportunity arose for businesses around the world. The internet phenomenon opened up doors for the very same companies who were limited to their local region to reach a far much wider audience on a global scale. One way this was made possible was the use of professional website translation. It made it possible for companies to reach even the most remote town in Brazil with the help of the world wide web.

With the aim to reach a global audience, businesses are sometimes faced with language barriers. Although English is deemed a universal language and also the premier language of the internet, it is not the first language in many countries which attract trade. Countries like Brazil, China and Portugal do not use English as a first language. Most people in those countries don’t even speak the English language. With that being said companies have to look for alternative ways to effectively reach these audiences and that is where translation services come in.

software-translation

Businesses have had to use translation services such as marketing and website translation which can be tricky if you yourself do not speak the target language. As a result companies have turned to translation agencies who are able to assist them with ensuring their message is put across effectively in a different language. In doing so businesses have gone on to increase their audience engagement whether it is via their website or social media platforms, reach more customers and sell more products. In 2015 simply creating your website and expecting to reach the global market is simply just not enough! The need to not only translate but localise content is key in effectively communicating your message in another language. Not only does this attract more people to your business it helps build trust and customer loyalty as research Common Sense Advisory has found that people feel more confident making a purchase when information is in their own native language.

When it comes to translating your content be it your website or advertising campaign it is highly advised you do your research as to whether this is feasible. For example if you operate within the film industry just because a particular movie is successful in one market does not mean it will be in another. Research is key before making final decisions.

Examples of companies who have translated or localised their content and are highly successful include the likes of:

  • Uber – translated into more than 30 langauges and predicted to boast profits in excess of 1.5billion according to Techinsider.
  • Huffington Post available in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, German, Portuguese, Korean and Greek.

So if you are ever unsure of why you need to include the cost of translation services in your budget remember these points.

  • Consumers prefer to use their own native language when making purchases
  • Reach more customers
  • Receive more enquiries
  • Sell more products
  • Build trust
  • Increase engagement on your site

Why is this young Nigerian man making waves in Japan?

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The name Ufot Ekong Junior is a relatively unknown name, but is definitely a name you should remember. “Why should I know this name?” I hear you ask. Well for those of you who do not know or haven’t heard yet, Ufot Ekong is the name of a young Nigerian student currently making waves in Japan.

What is it that is so impressive about this young man from Nigeria? Well, Ufot Ekong Jnr, 24, who had studied at Tokyo’s Tokai University, a private university which was established in 1942 by Shigeyoshi Matsumae, has rather spectacularly managed to achieve the highest grades at the prestigious university and universities nationwide in Japan, for the last 50 years, a record which has stood since 1965.

Ufor Ekong

Not only has Ufot Jnr succeeded in breaking the 50 year old record for highest grades achieved in the private Japanese university, he is also credited with solving a previous ‘unsolvable’ maths equation which had stood to see many unsuccessful attempts for the last 30 years. He managed to solve the quizzical equation amazingly in his first semester at Tokai University.

EkongThat wasn’t all for Ufot Jnr’s achievements, throughout his university career, through dedication and hard work he immersed himself in his work and managed to earn a staggering 6 academic excellence awards. In the end he graduated with a first class degree with honours in electrical and electronics engineering.

He had no need for a translator or translations as such, as Ufot Jnr is fluent in Japanese seeing that previous to enrolling himself on the electrical and electronics engineering undergraduate course, he studied Japanese for a year and a half. He is also fluent in English, French and Yoruba; it wouldn’t be surprising if he added Hebrew to this list of languages.

All of these wonderful achievements in academia for a man so young and in a country not of his mother tongue and perhaps the most amazing this is that he is completely self-funded and managed to put himself through the respected university by working 2 jobs whilst studying with no financial aid. He is currently studying for a master’s degree at the same university with a view to pursuing a PHD in the future.

Whatever Mr Ufot Ufot Ekong Junior goes on to achieve in his life, his story should be used as inspiration and himself and individuals like him should be celebrated.

Photo credits: Ufot Ekong Twitter

How Chinese investment is making an impact on Zambia

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Zambia in 2015 looks a lot different than a few years back. Its continued development is visible especially in the capital city Lusaka as well as the Copperbelt in areas such as Ndola and Kitwe. Although it still has a long way to go in terms of advancing infrastructure, progress can be seen especially around the capital city Lusaka where buildings and roads continue to be built at a steady pace. When you travel around Lusaka you will without a doubt see the construction of buildings whether office buildings or residential properties as well the construction of shopping malls. You will also notice that Many people have emigrated to Zambia not only from other African countries but from the US, UK and Asia. As you walk along the city of Lusaka you will not be shy of hearing the Chinese language being spoken around town. With such developments, a question most want to know the answer to is where is all this investment coming from? Why such a surge in the developments of shopping malls, roads and businesses?

To help answer the above it is important to firstly understand Zambia’s history. Colonised by the British, Zambia formerly known as Northern Rhodesia gained independence in 1964. Since becoming a democratic nation the country has witnessed up to date the leadership of 6 presidents. Each has had their fair share of praise and controversy when it comes to discussing affairs relating to the development of the nation (something you can research in your own time). Zambia’s biggest natural resource is reported to be copper, as a result mining is one of its biggest industries. Aside from copper the nation boasts rich land and ideal weather for agriculture, another big industry.

Chinese International School LusakaComing back to the topic of China’s influence in Zambia, when you look back to the early 2000’s most Chinese investments in Zambia were in relation to mining. China has over the years benefited from Zambia’s rich natural resources such as copper and uranium amongst Zambia’s commodities. Copper for example has been used to fund China’s growing market in terms of facilitating the construction of industrial machinery, power generation and transmission. To name a few. As a result Chinese companies have continued to seek control of mines in Zambia which has brought some controversy. China has now become a major importer of copper on a global scale overtaking the USA in the early 2000’s. China’s continued growth has fuelled further interest in developing nations with rich resources such as Zambia and the presence of the Chinese is highly visible in 2015 Zambia. Apart from copper, Chinese investors are investing in industries such as construction and engineering both big industries in Zambia. With this has come divided opinions, some residents are against Chinese investment as they believe they are losing out on contracts which they feel they are entitled to. Others including Economist Dambisa Moyo are more in favour of Chinese investment in the country with Ms Moyo stating that Chinese investment does more good as it creates ‘jobs for locals’ which as a result creates a better livelihood for Zambians. She also pointed out that Chinese companies are getting things done ‘fast’ in Africa which has impressed many.

Another noticeable thing is that there are now more and more Chinese schools encouraging even the locals to learn the Chinese language with offers for them to study abroad in China, another attractive option from young Zambian academics. This is a fairly attractive offer as China continues to grow and be a dominant force in world development with most economic reports including Bloomberg and The Telegraph placing China within the top 3 best performing economies in the world.

With all that said it is clear China has seen a goldmine in not only Zambia but in Africa as a whole. The Chinese effect does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon as more and more Chinese investors embark on doing business in Zambia.

What do you think of China’s presence in Zambian economics?

Is this the most complicated object in the world?

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Meet the timepiece that is causing a furor within the world of watches. The watch, more specifically the pocket watch in question which was recently unveiled by the deluxe Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin is known by the name of “Reference 57260”. The Reference 57260 has been labelled “the most complicated watch ever made” which includes a translation of the Hebrew calendar, an astronomical calendar and a Gregorian calendar, to name just one of the features. This one of a kind, exclusive pocket watch has taken more than 8 years to design and craft and has employed the work of three professional watchmakers.

With a whopping 57 complications and a vast amount of different functions, The Ref 57260 has earnt its title as “the most complicated watch ever made” by beating the previous record holders for watch complications by a huge 24 complications as the previous The Patek Philippe Caliber 89 had only 33, whilst the Patek Supercomplication, which sold for an amazing USD $24 million at auction had a mere 24 complications.

The complexity of this pocket watch is something to behold and that has never been seen before. The heavyweight case is made of white gold which the diameter measures at 98 mm or 3.8 inches, with the thickness measuring at 50.55 mm or 1.99 inches. Each one of its 2,800 components is hand decorated using traditional methods, with each one certified with the Hallmark of Geneva.

The Vacheron Constantin Reference 57260 does come cheap though; with all these features is it any surprise? The Vacheron Constantin Reference 57260 exact price has not been revealed as per the wishes of the private client who commissioned the watch. However the Reference 57260 is estimated to cost *drum roll* a whopping USD $5 million, which translates roughly to a mammoth GBP £3 million or thereabouts according to Bloomberg.

Let us know your thoughts on The Vacheron Constantin Reference 57260, would you buy one if money was not an issue?

What surprising video has the internet going mad?

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When you think of the most trending topics in the world at this time point of time, what do you think of? A celebrity gone mad? A big sports event? An ongoing war? A political corruption scandal? Kittens playing the keyboard? You would be forgiven for thinking anything along these lines, but no, none these topics are creating such a stir within the world of social media as Instagram and Vine comedian Nicholas Fraser’s (@Downgoes.Fraser) short 15 second parody video/song which became known as “Why you always lying?” The song spread so fast across the globe that soon there were many different variations of the original video from different countries which has seen the lyrics translate in to a numerous languages including Spanish, Hindi, Korean and Romanian translations, to name a few.

So what is this viral sensation that has the likes of Chris Brown, Wiz Khalifa, P Diddy and the rest of the world posting and talking about? Well it’s the work of talented funny man Nicholas Fraser or his online alias @Downgoes.Fraser. Where accompanied with the backing track of late 90’s and early 00’s R&B band Next’s “Too close” add to that some simple but rather adult lyrics and some pretty ludicrous dance moves. Fraser hilariously describes what mostly all of us feel to say when we get that one person who non-stop lies about everything in their lives and for no reason at all just lies for the sake of lying. We all know these type of people and now we have a perfect way to respond to them to finally shut them up.

The viral video has received very positive comments with Next’s lead singer RL praising the parody with maybe even talks for a collaboration between the two. Fraser has recently released a full song to go with the short clip so it remains to be seen just how long we will see this video around. Whatever happens, it has catapulted this young comedian into the online conscience.

Have a look at the video below for yourself, what do you think?

 

The newest twist on the world’s oldest novel

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Written in around 1,000 A.D., consisting of over 1,000 pages, ‘The Tale of Genji’ is widely regarded as the first ever novel written. The Tale of Genji depicts the story of Prince Genji, an illegitimate son of Emperor Kiritsubo, who due to politics demotes Genji to a life of a commoner; the story focuses on his romantic life whilst also detailing character in and around the imperial throne. Seen as the epitome of translation challenges due to the complexity of the Heian period court Japanese, Murasaki Shikibu’s ‘The Tale of Genji’ is no fast translation, as Dartmouth College professor Dennis Washburn found out as he embarked on the mammoth task of translating this influential Japanese novel from Japanese to English. He states “It took me 15 years of steady, almost daily, work.”

Washburns effort is not the first complete English rendition of Prince Genji’s life story; it was the work of Arthur Waley, a researcher of the Chinese and Japanese language that took that honour. Although Suematsu Kenchō produced the first English version more than 40 years before ‘The Waley Genji’ as it is known, The Suematsu Genji was not of a good quality and to add to that only a few chapters were translated. The English translations of note are The Waley Genji (1926-1933), The Seidensticker Genji (Edward Seidensticker, 1976), The McCullough Genji (Helen McCullough, 1994), and The Tyler Genji (Royall Tyler, 2001). Now Washburn can add his name to the list, not bad for someone who did not initially intend to carry out this massive task as he explains “I had never considered doing a translation of it before then, and to be honest, I had to think a long time before undertaking the work. It was a daunting prospect and I wasn’t confident.”

All of the English translations of ‘The Tale of Genji’ vary significantly from one another. For example, Waley’s Genji combined his modern world with the Heian period original and although considered a great accomplishment at the time and is still widely read today, it was criticised by some purists for the changes Waley made to the original. Whereas Seidensticker’s Genjis tried to improve on Waley’s version by not deviating too much from the original text and making it more readable by giving the characters names so that the story is easier to follow. McCullough’s Genji is an abridgement, while Tyler’s Genji is focused more on the poetic version that the original displayed, and the use of commentary and footnotes to explain the cultural aspects of the story, he was also praised for not adding in his own interpretations which is something other translators have given into.

Washburn himself has said he ‘respects’ all the earlier translations, stating “They each do different things well. However, there can never be a definitive translation of an important work like the ‘Genji,’ and so I had a couple of key aims for my version.” Washburn said he wanted his version of Genji to give readers the same feeling as the readers of the original from the Heian period whilst trying to replicate the style of Murasaki. Washburn’s Genji is something in between Seidensticker’s and Tyler’s Genji as he attempted to mix the original style of writing with clarity for the English language readers, not a task for the faint hearted.

 

A story reported by Japan Times

When translation goes wrong! Sweden women’s national football team blunder.

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Here’s a light hearted story from one of Scandinavia’s biggest countries, Sweden. This is a prime example of translation services gone wrong. A video was launched as part of a campaign to promote the Swedish women’s national football team ahead of the upcoming women’s FIFA World Cup which kicks off on 6th June 2015 in Canada.

The promotional video in question features the slogan and hashtag of “#klappaförsverige” which when translated into English is “#clapforsweden” which went viral and spread throughout the world wide web like wildfire.

The video was originally intended to garner support for the Swedish team’s effort in this summer’s tournament but rather than provoking a considerable backing for the Sweden nation team, the rather unfortunate slogan produced quite a few laughs and giggles.

The reason for the outbreak of laughter and comedic effect is in the English translation of the slogan #clapforsweden. You see ‘clap’ is an English slang for the venereal disease gonorrhea. So they essentially saying gonorrhea for Sweden, which is why the video has spread (no pun intended) throughout the English speaking world. Ironically gonorrhea is Sweden’s most sexually transmitted disease.

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The Swedish Football Federation’s spokesman, Niklas Bodell chose to look on it positively, accepting it and even seeing any publicity is good publicity when he had this to say when speaking to news agency TT. “This kind of thing happens, we have chosen to smile a little at the translation and instead rejoice over the fact that it has given the national squad so much attention.”

Twitter users were quick to pick up on the video, here are the best tweets. Johan Rylander (@rylanderjohan), a journalist from Gothenburg tweeted “I wonder who thought of this hashtag? Google what clap means in English…” Whilst @LarsSund1 suggested “Swedes think they master the English language. They don’t.” and @nvlk21 wrote “More gonorrhea for the people!”

Daniel Ahonen, who plays Swedish club IK Sirius, tweeted: “Clap quickly translated means gonorrhea. The hashtag #ClapforSweden is pretty funny. Good PR people over at the ladies’ side!”

Lastly Adam Waller (@FRfotbollAdam) said “Unfortunate hashtag when translated to English… Nevertheless, wish the team well for the #WorldCup.”

Sweden are to commence their FIFA women’s World Cup 2016 campaign on the 8th June against a strong Nigeria team but face stiff opposition for the crowning glory from the likes of tournament favourites and joint record holders USA and Germany, Brazil, France, holders Japan and host Canada.

Although Sweden are not among the favourites the national team coach Pia Sundhage thinks they could be the dark horses of the competition saying “The central line and the goalkeeper are important, if we can get ourselves together whilst there we can go far. Caroline Seger, Lotta Schelin and Nilla Fischer are three world players who can inspire others to play well too.”

Whether or not this is true or the worldwide attraction from the viral video helps, remains to be seen, we wish Sweden well in the world cup.

You won’t believe what British ‘thing’ is trending in China.

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Can you guess what it is about Britain that is making a big impact on the online traffic in China? Could it be the iconic British landmarks and history? The royal family? London’s vibrant fashion scene? The Barclays Premier League? You would be forgiven for thinking it was any of these things but in fact they are all wrong.

What has been trending in China is The London Underground; yes the London Underground according to BBC Trending. The London Underground also known as ‘the tube’ or ‘the underground’ is rich in history and is known all around the world by the widely recognisable logo and tube lines but yet these are still not the reasons for the underground’s popularity in China. The reason why the London Underground has been so popular recently in China is because of the “handsome” men commuting via the tubes. Sina Weibo, a Chinese micro blogging site (which is in Mandarin, currently being translated into English) is responsible for this. Images of photogenic male tube commuters have emerged on these micro blogs and been shared and liked numerous times, where a single image alone could receive over 100k shares and likes. The images receive largely positive comments generally about how good looking the individuals are. One user wrote “Handsome people really look good in anything” whist another declared “I want to take Tubes every day!”.

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The pictures come from TubeCrush.net which was launched by a group of friends from London. TubeCrush.net is a British website which enables users to upload snaps of good looking men taken in secret whist on the tube. Speaking to BBC Trending, the popularity of these pictures are not much of a surprise to co-founder Stephen Motion, as he says that China is the third biggest source of traffic to their website, he then goes on to say “the website isn’t blocked in China. It’s fully available in all of the cities. We see most traffic coming from Guangzhou and Shanghai.”

Naturally, a website based on secretly taken pictures without the individual’s knowledge or consent is bound to raise some issues about legality and privacy as well as whether or not the website has an element of sexism in the way the images ‘objectify’ these men. These are issues TubeCrush.net is keen to contest; they argue that all images are legal as they were all taken in a public place. Stephan Motion also goes on to say if these individuals are not comfortable with their faces being published on their website, there is a way to get the image removed “We have a photo removal function where they can request to take it down” he then states “Interestingly we don’t receive many requests. When people discover they’ve been photographed, they’re actually quite proud.”

So why are these pictures of British men proving so popular with Chinese internet users? Ruhua Xianyu from the BBC’s Chinese Service says that Chinese people’s perception of the British man is one of good manners and politeness suggesting “When Chinese people think about British men, we think they’re true gentlemen” whilst concluding its more about the ‘quality’ of the man rather than the looks.

Thought you knew the richest man of all time? Think again!

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When the topic of who is the richest man of all time arises, often times names that appear in such conversations include the likes of Bill Gates – Co-founder and head of the technology giant that is Microsoft with an estimated net worth of $136 billion , John D. Rockerfeller who’s company The Standard Oil company dominated the American oil industry and has an estimated net worth of around $340 billion, Rothschild family who founded financial houses and own or control major banking institutions around the world have an estimated net worth of $350 billion while Carlos Slim, a Mexican businessman and investor has a net worth in the region of $71 billion. A name that does not seem to make the rounds is that of Musa Keita I of Mali.

Musa of Mali also known as Mansa Musa of Mali which in translation reads “king of kings” or “emperor” of Mali reigned for 25 years from 1312 – 1337 and his inflation adjusted net worth is estimated to be in excess of $400 billion making him the most wealthy man of all time. The Mali Empire is a kingdom that is usually overlooked by many historical books. Its rich gold mines and its capital city Timbuktu which was a centre of world trade in the later Middle Ages propelled it as an empire to be reckoned with. Its leader Mansa Musa reported to even have given gold to people he came across during his travels which subsequently depressed its value in Egypt at the time [Source British Museum].

Below is a list compiled by Celebrity Net Worth which highlights the richest people of all time and their net worth. The top 12 are as follows:

  1. Mansa Musa I (Emperor of the Mali kingdom) – Net Worth $400 Billion
  2. The Rothschild Family (Established finance houses also known as the Rothschild banking dynasty) – Net Worth $350 Billion
  3. John D. Rockefeller (Started the Standard Oil company in the USA) – Net Worth $340 Billion
  4. Andrew Carnegie (Led the enormous expansion of the steel industry in the United States in the 12th He is also known as a philanthropist. – Net Worth $310 Billion
  5. Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov (Last emperor of Russian, reinged from 1894-1917) – Net Worth $300 Billion
  6. Mir Osman Ali Khan (Monarch of the Hyderabad in India reigned between 1911 and 1948) – Net Worth $230 billion
  7. William the Conqueror (King of England reigning between 1066 until his death in 1087) – Net Worth $229.5 Billion
  8. Muammar Gaddafi (Revolutionary and prime minister of Libya between 1969 until his death in 2011) – Net Worth $200 Billion
  9. Henry Ford (American industrialist and founder of the Ford Motor Company) – Net Worth $199 Billion
  10. Cornelius Vanderbilt (American business magnate and philanthropist who made his fortune in railroad and shipping) – Net Worth $185 Billion
  11. Alan Rufus (1st Lord of Richmond and cousin to William the Conqueror) – Net Worth $178.65 billion
  12. Bill Gates (Cofounder of Microsoft, investor, investor and philanthropist) – Net Worth $136 Billion

This powerful anti-racism social experiment will make you think

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An interesting, thought-provoking Lithuanian PSA video by Lithuanian anti-discrimination organisation Svetima Geda has been doing the rounds and is very quickly going viral on the internet. The aforementioned video, which is mostly in English with the Lithuanian translation on the subtitles, is a social experiment that highlights and challenges attitudes towards racism in Lithuania and the modern day world of social media.

The video which is 5 minutes and 30 seconds long starts with a sped up time-lapse of the experimenters wiring the actor up, setting the cameras up and arranging the ‘set’ which largely resembles a waiting area for a job interview or something similar in a big corporate building where the candid experiment is carried out.

The plot of this candid social experiment starts with an actor playing an African immigrant new to Lithuania, who is sitting in a waiting area when a variety of unsuspecting Lithuanian locals including men, women and even a child from all walks of life, join him in the waiting area each at separate times.

The video depicts a montage of each time the African man and each of the locals exchange pleasantries and small talk then silence as they wait until the African man then asks each of the locals to translate a message in Lithuanian which he received on Facebook and cannot understand. He explains he is new to the language and someone has sent him a message on Facebook which maybe the locals could help him translate. The video cuts to each of the locals mostly happy to help and some politely agreeing with a smile, but once the locals read the message their faces immediately change.

The interesting part is how the Lithuanian locals react once they read the message. Some take a long pause and are visibly distressed by the message they have just read, some shake their heads whilst most refuse to even say back what they have read. It is clear to see all the locals are shocked and appalled by the message and have great difficulty to even tell the African man what the message entails. One woman describes it as “humiliating” and a man responds after being asked “nope, there is no useful information here” whilst another local man pronounces that he cannot say what has been written while looking at the African man.

What is striking is that the men all decline to interpret the message whilst majority of the women emotionally recite back the message to the African man whereas the child innocently interprets without any thought. All of the unsuspecting locals apologise to the African man with a look of guilt and remorse as if they have written the message themselves.

This is the purpose of the video that no matter whom these people are and what their beliefs are when confronted face-to-face with racism there really is no good that can come out of it and how anyone reacts to it is largely the same, there is simply no place for it in today’s world.

How would you deal with this situation? Would you be honest? Would you refuse? Would you lie? On the flip side how would you react if you were the African man hearing these things?