LangLadder Aids Foreign Language Students with Reading and Vocabulary‎

Firefox: LangLadder is a smart Firefox extension designed to aid you with your foreign-language studies, teaching you vocabulary and improving your reading skills.

Learning another language is one of those goals everyone puts on their goal list at one point or another, but it's also difficult to tackle after work, your social life, and other responsibilities. LangLadder integrates with Firefox to help you improve you foreign language vocabulary and reading skills, saving and defining words you don't know with example sentences and flash card features. While its creator suggests that it's best for intermediate to advanced students, it looks like it could work well for anyone trying to expand their skills with a second language.

LangLadder is a free download for Firefox, requires Jetpack extension.

LangLadder

Original post from Lifehacker.com

Microsoft’s Play in the Translation Market

Google may hold the upper hand in web-based automatic translation at the moment, but there are other players stepping up to the plate. At this year’s MIX 2010 Conference, Microsoft introduced their new Collaborative Translations Framework as a "technology that combines the scale and speed of automatic machine translation with the accuracy and context awareness of human translation.”

Microsoft is now approaching translation from a different angle than Google. They have accepted and voiced the fact that a machine will never be able to guarantee a completely accurate translation with every try. With this in mind they developed their Collaborative Translations Framework targeted at allowing website creators and owners to translate their content with a very simple Application Programming Interface (API).

By using the Microsoft suite of translator tools that are part of the Collaborative Translations Framework webpage owners can take control of how their site is localized based on the type of content being translated. While Google targets the everyday search engine user, Microsoft is marketing this API to the people who create websites and this may pay-off in a big way.

Read more about Microsoft’s new approach, and let us know what you think.

”Sliced raw fish and Google green onion thing!" Looking Back at Google’s Translation Growth

In 2004, Google’s automated translation service was still in infancy. A fan in South Korea sent an e-mail stating Google was their favorite search engine. Creators used their Google Translate service to translate the e-mail and the results read: “The sliced raw fish shoes it wishes. Google green onion thing!”

Google Translate has come a long way since then.

Of all the recent Google ventures outside their “search engine” comfort zone, all Google translation services stand out as a shining beacon amongst a host of troubled projects. Their legal-locked digital books project and the stalled social networking site, BUZZ are a few examples.

However, this growing success took time. In 2007 Google began offering 800-GOOG-411, a free directory assistance service that interprets spoken requests, giving Google the upper hand in recognizing spoken English. One year later, Google released a search-by voice system.

In late 2009, it introduced Goggles, a smartphone app which analyzed photos, matching them to a database of images.

Google isn't resting on its laurels. Last month, Google took their translation services one step further with the launch of a software allowing phones to translate foreign test from photo images ranging anywhere from street signs to restaurant menus.

Combine these advances and it's easy to see the birth of a fully functioning automatic translator. Google translation services are growing by leaps and bounds and for quick fun translations, we're okay with you using them.

Read the full article and let us know if you agree.

"Minority Supplier of the Year" Award Goes To...

On Friday, March 5th 2010, the Northwest Minority Supplier Development Council (NWMSDC) held their annual Summit Awards Gala event, where we’re proud to announce that Dynamic Language was awarded the 2009 Minority Supplier of the Year Award (Class II Category, gross revenues totaling $1M-10M)! This is the second time in three years that Dynamic has been recognized by the council with this award.

We are extremely grateful to be honorees because it symbolizes the level of commitment we have to our customers, and recognizes our team’s hard work and dedication to high quality language services. We are proud to be acknowledged for our community leadership, council involvement and business success. And most humbling and gratifying of all, it is our peer companies that nominate and select the recipient of this award.

The NWMSDC has been connecting major corporations and public agencies to minority-owned businesses for over 30 years. It currently serves the states of Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho and Alaska. For more information, you can visit their website.

Thank you, NWMSDC!!

Putting Free Text Translations to the Test

Do you ever wonder which free translation site to use for basic things like correspondence or small phrases? Most people have neither the desire nor the time to run their content through multiple sites to validate the results.

Thankfully, The New York Times has already done some of the hard work for you. They recently took Google’s new automated translation service, Systran’s Yahoo Babel Fish and Microsoft’s Bing Translator for a test drive.

They took small pieces of text in French, Spanish, Russian, German, and Arabic and compared the results from the three website translators against an actual human translator.

Although this testing methodology is not completely fool-proof, it does provide some interesting data. It appears that certain systems may be more effective for certain languages. For example, all of the systems easily translated French and Spanish and certain systems had trouble with German and Russian. However, some systems failed to offer an Arabic translation altogether.

As far as we can tell, it looks like Google comes out ahead in overall accuracy.

Give it a try and decide for yourself.

Small Step for Google - Big Step for Language Barriers

With the introduction of Automatic Translation – Google’s newest feature added to the Chrome browser – Google has done it again, making life easier for all internet users wishing to access information in their own language.

If, for example, you were looking for an authentic Coq au Vin recipe and a French language web page caught your eye, the new Google Chrome search engine will now instantly detect that the page is written in another language and offer to translate it into your preferred language.

There is no additional software needed. This convenient feature operates through Google Translate which currently supports 52 languages.

In addition to automatic translation, new customizable privacy settings have been applied to Chrome. You can now control cookies, images, JavaScript, plug-ins, and pop-ups on a site-by-site basis.

Google continues to push the envelope on linguistic support, and we’re looking forward to what they’ll come up with next.

Give it a try and let us know what you think!

To find out more click here.

Improve Your Foreign Language Through Music

Imagine learning a new foreign language by simply singing along to your favorite Guns N’ Roses or James Blunt song. Soon, you can forget traditional memorization methods. Through the new web site, Lyrics Training, you can improve your skills or experiment with a new language.

The Lyrics Training website helps you learn a foreign language through interaction with music and song lyrics.

Simply pick a music video, the language you want to learn and choose between three different skill levels. The video pops up on the screen and the lyrics are underneath with several words missing. As the song is played, you sing-a-long and fill in the missing words.

Right now, six different languages are offered; English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Dutch.

It’s free and easy to set up an account. The web site is simple to navigate and fun to use. I think it is entertaining and an interesting approach to learning a new language.

Try it out! Sing along to your favorite song, and let us know your thoughts.

Forgotten Languages

Did you know that half of the languages spoken around the world today are expected to die out by the end of the 21st century? That’s a sad fact reported in The Independent this week.

Fortunately for all of us, Microsoft, through its Local Language Program (LLP), is using technology to protect the rare languages of the world, keeping alive cultural traditions plus centuries of history and knowledge that may never before have been documented. Through localization of language solutions like Microsoft Language Interface Packs (LIPs) into dozens of rare and sometimes dying languages, the most commonly used features within specific Microsoft products and operating systems become accessible, free of charge.

LLP already offers 67 different languages and Microsoft just added 59 new languages to LLP, which will become available in the upcoming months. Some examples include Inuktitut, Oriya, Tatar, Konkani, and Quechua.

Do you think these languages need to be brought into the 21st century? Does it matter to you?

Learn more about Mircrosoft’s efforts.

Translation App Created for iPhone and iPod Touch

International Internet Company Babylon Ltd., released iBabylon for the iPhone and iPod Touch on February 22, 2010.

This application provides users quick access to dictionaries in over 75 languages and full text translation in 33 languages.

Features include:

*Translation to multiple languages
*Dictionary and full text translation
*Huge selection of dictionaries and glossaries
*Choice of 15 interface languages
*Pasteboard integration
*Automatic language detection

The App is one of the more expensive ones in the Apple App store, but frequent travelers should find the features helpful. One significant caveat, though, is that it requires a working internet connection, as iBabylon retrieves results online from Babylon's servers.

Have you downloaded and used iBabylon yet? What were your impressions?

30th Anniversary for Port of Seattle and China

We came across some interesting facts about the Port of Seattle in a Press Announcement which went out recently as the Port marks the 30th anniversary of its relationship with number one trade partner, China.

China's trade relationship with the Port of Seattle began in 1980. 20 years later, Washington’s trade with China grossed
$13 billion. In 2008 it grossed a whopping $40 billion.

Today, 40 percent of the Port of Seattle’s trade volume is made up from imports and exports with China.

For a primer on the difference between the two written dialects of the Chinese - Traditional vs. Simplified, click here.

For more facts regarding the relationship between Port of Seattle and China, click here.

ALC Video Message Task Force

The ALC Video Message Task Force was formed to express a message about the ALC via short viral videos to be used for promoting the association throughout the year.

Headed by Rick Antezana of Dynamic Language, the task force is already busy writing content, and story boarding their ideas, which will mostly be shot on location during the 2010 ALC Annual Conference in Miami, Florida.

If you are interested in serving as a volunteer on this task force, please contact Rick Antezana, the Task Force Chair, at rick@dynamiclanguage.com.

Click here for the extended page.

Google Creates Mobile App to Translate Text from Photos

Google’s Android is sweeping the phone market with its new technology. Google was demonstrating how the new software worked at the Mobile World Congress (MWG) in Spain this week.

The software allows phones to translate foreign text from photos of anything from street signs to restaurant menus by uploading the photo to Google servers. Then the translation is sent back to the user.

While at the MWG, a Google engineer took a photo of a German restaurant menu and then selected the text “Fruhlingssalta mit Wildrkrautern.” He then requested a translation which arrived in seconds translating to “spring salad with wild herbs.”

According to chief executive officer Eric Schmidt, the new service was just one step in making mobile phones speak new languages. “I've got voice recognition (in my phone) and I've got Google translation... so why can't I just talk on the phone to someone who doesn't speak my language?” he said. “Well we're not quite there yet but it’s coming.”

For the full article click here.

Domains In Your Preferred Lanauge

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN, has approved the first four internationalized top-level domain names.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the Russian Federation now will be able to access domains in their native scripts and not have to figure out Latin characters that they are not familiar with.

According to an ICANN news release, the domains should be accessible to all users by the middle of this year. As of right now sixteen applications in eight languages have been received and ICANN anticipates more.

“These international names will now allow people to type entire domain names in their own language. This makes a pivotal moment in the history of Internet domain names,” said ICANN CEO and President Rod Beckstrom.

Read the PDF here

Red Cross Bridges Language Barrier in Haiti

Approximately 70 American Red Cross volunteers are currently in Haiti attempting to improve communication between medical staff and Haitian patients.

The volunteers will work as interpreters and translators aboard the USNS Comfort- a treatment facility for surgical and medical care. The staff there is made up of Marines, Soldiers, Sailor and Airmen. They will assist with the communication gap between patients who are being treated and the doctors who are taking care of them. They hope this will help ease the patients fear in an unfamiliar area with no one to understand them while also ensuring they don’t have other complications the medical staff should be aware of.

You can help too!

Read more

Remote Interpreters Assist in Court

Criminal hearings and trials are often suspended until a later date once they discover their witness or defendant needs an interpreter.

For Broward County in Florida, they struggle to keep trials on schedule due to the lack of interpreters. Actually, travel distance and schedule issues seem to be at the forefront of their problem. They have decided to resolve the issue by using remote interpreters.

These interpreters can be on-call, available on short notice and most beneficially- they can be anywhere in the world, at any time. All they need is a computer with internet access and a headset. Each courtroom would also have a computer and speakers to enable them to hear the interpreter.

This is still a test pilot program, but they are optimistic about the new program. This will prevent them from turning people away from lack of resources.

Dynamic Language offers ASL Video Remote Interpreting, contact us!

Original Article

Study says: Uncertified Court Interpreters Lead to Unjust Outcomes

UWS Interpreting and Translation Research Group of Australia conducted a study on the influence court interpreters have and how creditable their testimonies are.

Their results showed that without training and certification, court interpreters have been prone to make mistakes leading to unjust outcomes.

"When the testimony of a person who cannot speak English is required, the impression they make within the court is completely in the hands of their interpreter. “

“If even the smallest change is made to the person's style or the content of their speech, the believability of their testimony could be affected,” says Associate Professor Hale.

It is human nature to assess others and their intelligence and competence based on how they communicate. Sometimes it is difficult for juries to keep that in mind as they judge the testimony of a witness or defendant based on the mannerisms and speech style of an interpreter.

Court Certified Interpreters ensure unbiased mannerisms and speech. They understand the environment and adapt quickly and easily to courtroom settings. Certifed Interpreters are also used to sitting on a stand and being watched- keeping in mind they are speaking on behalf of another person.

Need a court certified interpreter?

Want to become a court certified interpreter in Washington?

Read the original article here

Google Speech-to-Speech Translator On the Go

Ever wonder if we can one day speak to foreigners via phones without any language barriers?

It might be happen sooner than we imagine.

Google is currently underway fine-tuning a speech-to-speech translation tool created for mobile phones. Essentially, with this translator on your phone- you could chat verbally with business colleagues, friends and clients without any difficulty.

They are currently working out the glitches as differences in voice pitch, accents and tone may distort the translation. Google Speech Translation mirrors what we use today- voice recognition technology. Rest assured, this will be out before we know it with Google behind this tool.

Tell us what you think!

via techchee

Allerglobal Creates Multi-lingual Allergy Travel Cards

Traveling can be difficult when you have allergies or intolerances, especially if you aren’t familiar with their foreign language. Allerglobal has created a simple card that assists with this transition by offering language-specific food allergy cards when dining out.

Currently, they offer 27 different languages, and is said to be a simple process. Just select from a platform of food allergies and generate a printable card for easy use while traveling.

Don’t let your food allergies stop you from enjoy life's adventures.

Make your new Allerglobal card today!

Orginial post by Lifehacker.

Google Launches Translator Application

Google this morning launched Google Transliteration IME- a desktop application allowing its users to type text in their language using a roman keyboard. Not quite all languages are supported yet, but fourteen are available today- Arabic, Bengali, Farsi, Greek, Urdu, Telugu, Punjabi, Nepali, Tamil, Gujarati, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada and Marathi.

How does this work?

Users simply type the word as it would sound using Latin characters and Google Transliteration IME converts the word to its native script. This enables users to create content or communicate in their preferred language whether online or offline with their application of choice. Google Transliteration IME is compatible with Windows 7/Vista/XP and is available for the desktop across all applications.

This free download provides features with a user's need in mind. This tool includes: quick search, personalized choices, east-to-use keyboard, word completion, with customization options and offline support. Google continues this innovation and is in process of extending this to several additional international languages.

This tool is also available in Gmail, Blogger, Knol and bookmarklet.

Try it for yourself and tell us what you think!

IBM Makes Impact on Language Barriers

IBM, a multinational company currently has 100 staff members working on project, “n.Fluent.” This is a new project that offers instantaneous translations across a wide array of platforms. They are currently working on a web interface that can automatically translate a web page when you type in a URL.

In motion is also an app for web sites, for when a user comes to a page, they can click on a pull down menu and select the language they need. This is fast becoming a user demand because it erases the limitations that once capped what users could access if it wasn’t offered in their language.

n.Fluent started in 2006 when the company decided a huge issue for global businesses and companies with clients worldwide was the language barrier on-line. IBM thinks this technology will aid companies with large amounts of support content. Spanish, French, Portuguese and Arabic have shown success while Asian languages like Korean, Chinese and Japanese have posed to be more of a challenge.

IBM strives to unite the world and close the language barrier gap just a bit more.

See for yourself!

Get Your Own Creations on the Apple App Store!

Back by popular demand, Stanford University is offering a second chance to take part in their 10-week course, iPhone Application Programming. You can find class videos and copies of the slides on iTunes U.

This provides wanna-be app innovators with the opportunity to learn how to create iPhone and iTouch apps. They would be able to contribute to the +25,000 application titles the Apple App Store is currently offering for downloads.

For the general public, when on-line- they will see the exact lessons given to on-campus students, they just won't receive class credits for it.

The course hits mostly on iPhone’s application development to include Objective-C, Cocoa-Touch, iPhone SDK, and more. An addition to this year’s lesson will be iPhone OS 3.1, the latest iPhone and iPod touch operating system. The class began January 5th, so the first two lectures are already up for viewing.

Learn to create your own iPhone app now.

Popular Microblogging Service Localizes-Attracts Asian Users

Everyone thinks Twitter when they think of microblogging, but watch for Plurk, a microblogging rival who has made quite a splash in Asian markets.

What makes them so special? Plurk offers services in local languages, which is something Twitter struggles to deliver. Plurk provides their services in 33 different languages so far, but 45 more are getting ready for release as we speak. Some of the languages include Russian, Hindi, Chinese in traditional and simplified character forms, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek and Japanese.

While Twitter is behind in this language support race, they have quickly added Italian, French and Spanish within the last month in response. Difficulty in localizing Asian languages is their reason for not supporting more of this market.

Plurk doesn’t seem to have the same issue, but this may also have to do with their language strategy. They send out an e-mail with a string of English to volunteer translators to localize the content and send it back. There is a surprising amount of people who have a strong desire to localize a microblogging site to have it in their own language.

Plurk is so popular in Asia because they have penetrated a market where English is very uncommonly used. They are the number one microblogger site in Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan, where Twitter continues to dominate Hong Kong and Sinagpore.

Localization is fast becoming the most successful way to drive business. Read more here.

Microsoft sets out to Localize Windows 7

Microsoft has decided to translate their new operating system, Windows 7 into 10 African languages. Some have wondered the reasoning behind this as they currently only provide this system in English and French. Microsoft responded with wanting to increase overall usage, more use of local languages online and also to fight software piracy.

This is set to finish rolling out by 2011 including languages like Sesotho sa Leboa, Setswana, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Afrikaans, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, kiSwahili and Amharic.

Many in Africa are considered illiterate because they do not understand technology in the English and French language, while they are great readers and writers in their native language. They are hoping that with more availability in local languages, it will lead to greater inclusion. Then they would be better able to express themselves in the form of blogs, emails and websites.

Currently, African language letters, accents and editing functions are not included in most products, making it difficult for people to use their language online. Microsoft is hoping to change this with the increase of content.

Language is power and it can unite countries and people from all over. Microsoft plans to lead us into 2011 in a new direction with localization.

Learn more about this.

Technology grows for the hard of hearing

In today’s society, almost every person owns a mobile phone. But for those who are deaf or hard of hearing, cell phones have largely limited them to text messaging only. Providers like T-mobile have long created data only plans on all their phones with keyboards to cater to this market. But technology is stepping it up!

Cornell researchers have created a cell phone that allows deaf people to communicate in sign language. For deaf people, this is more than a matter of convenience, but rather “untethered communication in their native language.”

The phones use videoconferencing to allow communication in a live feed, unlike regular cell phones where video messages have to taken and then sent. They have been designed to maximize battery life and are optimized to transmit clearly, be user-friendly and use minimum bandwidth.

Facial expressions are extremely important in ASL because it provides a lot of added information. Researchers made sure to make it clearest in the face and hands for this reason.
This is will offer deaf and hard of hearing people the ability to choose how they would like to communicate with others without limitations.

See the article here

A New Way to ‘Unify’ the Spanish Language

Can we all speak the same no matter what region we’re in?

A new 4,000 page book strives to connect the Spanish speaking population by releasing grammar guidelines to the public for the first time in 80 years. This text reveals all the ways one statement can be expressed: like 20 different ways ballpoint pen can be said- how it varies from one social class to another, or from country to country even. It is even cut into 2 smaller versions for the reader’s convenience: one for teachers of Spanish and students, and the other one for the public.

This new three volume text reflects how the language is spoken in Latin America- which is where most Spanish-speakers live. This book was created by the people, for the people. It does not claim any grammar as correct or incorrect, but instead recommendations as to what is generally accepted to be proper Spanish.

Find out more!

Apple Adds More Language Localization Options

Apple tries to keep up with the demand and adds:

- Brazilian Portuguese: Brazil App Store
- Korean: Korea App Store
- Portuguese: Portugal App Store
- Russian: Russia App Store
- Simplified Chinese: China App Store
- Swedish: Sweden App Store

Apple is very aware of the 50 million users of iPhone and iTouch and encourages App developers to jump on board and create localized versions of their apps to fit each target market. Apple is contributing by rolling out support for these six new languages in an effort to meet world wide demands.

However, China states that there is still a tremendous lack of localization for applications and their instructions by the China App Store.

How can we solve this?

Maybe it’s time developers reach out to other resources to achieve their business needs and reap in the rewards.

Let Dynamic Language assist with your localization needs.

Learn Languages on the Go

Meet Memorista, a language education website designed for travelers, tourists and budding linguists. This site provides several flashcard category packs for each language; for example, People, Food and Drink or Basic Expressions. Words are presented in a flashcard format with mnemonic to help associate the words.

Don’t expect to become a fluent international translator! Rather, it is intended to help learn key phrases and basic vocabulary. It is free to use, registration is required.

Learn more here!

Make Way for HTML5

HTML5 isn’t your typical web's core language specification. It actually details how the HTML should be formatted and used in order to deliver images, text, web apps, search engines and more. This is a huge revision to web developers as this is the main component to how the web is put together. While this may mean little to us at the moment, it impacts the way we stream things via the internet immensely. When more browsers and developers support HTML5's audio, video, and interaction standards, the idea of the web as the universal app store—for smartphones, for desktops and laptops, Windows, Mac, and Linux—gets closer to reality.

The benefits:
· Offline storage: Kind of like "Super Cookies," but with much more space to store data, like email.
· Canvas drawing: Sites can mark off a space on a page where interactive pictures, charts and graphs, game components, can be drawn directly—no Flash or other plug-ins required.
· Native video and audio streaming support: Sites like YouTube and Pandora could one day skip Flash entirely to bring you streaming audio and video

It can also provide: Geolocation, Smarter forms, and Web application focus.

As this becomes reality, we can assist with your linguistic localization and technology needs.

Check this out for the complete article.
Click here to see a demo! http://html5demos.com/

Localize While It's Hot!

Apple's iPhone has hit the market in China, and there has been a frenzy of iPhone Applications developed and/or localized for millions of new users. Software piracy is still a huge issue in China, and that includes the iPhone platform. The vast majority of Chinese iPhone users "jailbreak" their iPhones and are more likely to download pirated software. Still, however, analysts estimate the potential for over $6 million of legitimate iPhone app revenue by next year.

An important question remains for iPhone developers: How can you localize your app to capitalize on the growing Chinese market?

That seems to be the big question. Legitimate Chinese phone apps are slowly surging as is the demand for accuracy, efficiency and originality in applications. Many developers are finding apps created for mainland users are sometimes more popular overseas, however the app should also be as much in line with Chinese lifestyles as possible. Also, most of the apps and their instructions are in English, hampering the ability for many to even use them. This emphasizes the importance of localization and how key a role it plays in your app being successful.

For more details please click here.

Bridging Gaps in Emergency Preparedness

Do you have a patient or client who is blind, deaf, hard of hearing or has limited use of their vision that has struggled with having proper accessibility in emergency situations? It is possible that they do not have access to resources on how to prepare when these disasters occur. Now you can assist!

Free resources on Emergency Preparedness are now available online by the Northeast Texas Public Health District, including user friendly videos available in ASL with audible English voice-over and matching text that address topics such as Disaster Preparedness, Basic First Aid, and Infections Diseases. Materials are also available for download in Braille, large print and regular font.

Disasters do occur, and everyone should have an equal opportunity to be prepared. All the information and resources are at your disposal to help on this site, and we can assist with your individual communication needs.

Check out the site http://www.accessibleemergencyinfo.com/home.html for more information and access their Preparedness topics!

Stop the translation!

Don’t want your webpage auto-translated? Webmasters can enter codes to prevent GoogleTranslate from translating an entire webpage or just selected text within the webpage. This is especially helpful if you have product names, email addresses or text that is intended to remain in a selected language.

Click here to learn how stop Google auto-translation or for more GoogleTranslate FAQ’s.

Are you a "Gmail ninja"?

If you are a Gmail user, you might already know about the Gmail tips guide, which promises to make you a "Gmail ninja." This guide includes tips for the occasional user (white belt ninja) to the everyday user (Gmail master ninja).

Newly announced, this guide is now available in Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, and UK English.

Read more.

Hear Me Sign

The Deaf and Hard of Hearing community may soon have a new way to communicate with those that do not sign. The Institute for Disabilities Research and Training, Inc. (IDRTA) has been conducting research on a device called the AcceleGlove, a “sensor-instrumented glove that can capture motion and position of hand and fingers then input that data into a computer.”

The research will determine if the AcceleGlove will be a viable option as a “portable, wearable, and affordable interface to translate the gestures of American Sign Language (ASL) into English text and speech using a notebook computer or PDA-type device.” IDRTA currently offers several fingerspelling software products to be used with the AcceleGlove to teach students how to sign correctly.

Click here to read about IDRTA's research.

Need a dictionary?

Here is a link to some serious, fun and quirky online dictionaries – 84 to be exact. If you talk, write, dream, sing, travel, rap, teach or twitter – you will find a dictionary (or two) to help you!

Click here to view the list and find your favorite.

Speak the Language

BBC is helping you out by offering translations of commonly used phrases. This FREE online resource translated several common phrases – such as “welcome” and “my name is…” - into over 30 languages. Audio files are available along with some beautiful pictures of each country.

We recommend you browse the site. Click here.

Rick Steves is iPhone ready!

Internationally known travel guru Rick Steves has just released 5 new iPhone/iPod Touch apps for navigating the streets in Europe!

They include: Louvre Tour, Historic Paris Walk & Tour, Orsay Museum Tour, St. Peter’s Basilica Tour and Versilles Tour. A sixth, Colosseum & Roman Forum Tour is scheduled to be available by the end of July. The website boasts that “once downloaded, these Rick Steves apps are completely self-contained on your iPhone or iPod Touch, so you won't incur pricey roaming charges in Europe.”

AND . . .The Orsay Museum Tour app is free until the end of July!

View a demo and read more here.

We’d love to know what you think!

It sounds like something from Star Trek…

Simply talk into your mobile device and you will hear an audio interpretation back in another language? Sakhr Software just announced the release of a new mobile app for iPhone and Blackberry users, utilizing Mobile Speech to Speech (S2S) technology that will do just that for English-Arabic translation. According to the article in BusinessWeek, the app “uses a rule-based language system that judges meaning based on context” to ensure that the translation is accurate. Based on a video that accompanies the article, the translation app is not perfect, but is accurate enough to communicate. Although this app is currently only being offered to the US Department of Defense, it is proposed for use by businesses in the future. We think this app would also be a great travel companion tool for the individual consumer. Click to read full article and see the video.

Unwanted Tourists Be Gone

Those who travel or just enjoy taking pictures know that getting an unobstructed picture in a busy location isn’t easy. Chances are that three or four pictures will be taken just to get one that you settle on as being the “best” option to keep. For those of you that want that perfect picture, free of unwanted objects (such as moving cars or random tourists), there is a free application called “Tourist Remover” (offered by snapmania). Tourist Remover analyzes several digital pictures taken from the same location and removes any items that are not consistent in each of the shots.Check it out and let us know what you think.

via snapmania and Boing Boing

iPhone 3G S Global Expansion

By August 2009, the new iPhone 3G S will be available in 80 countries! We thought you should know.

Click here to view country release dates courtesy of SimonBlog.

TAUS Launches Language Data Exchange Portal

TAUS (the Translation Automation User Society) has lauched the TDA language data exchange portal for public use. This means that members of the service can share their terminology bases and translation memory, and have access to the secure central database containing terminology from other members. This centralization should help to ensure consistency within industries, and and, according to TAUS's press release, "open[s] the way for a more significant and efficient translation industry benefiting from increased productivity, reduced costs, streamlined terminology and much more content being translated."

We are interested to see how the concept of communal term bases might affect the translation industry. As Common Sense Advisory comments on their blog, such projects will need further development, including increased content and specific quality control criteria, to realize their full potential.

Health Care Reform: Removing Language Barriers

On June 6th, President Obama’s political organization, Organizing for America, will kick off the new health care reform campaign. Among the various topics of discussion is the issue of improving health care for minority populations. In a recent letter to President Obama, 24 health and advocacy organizations called out the need to “provide coverage for language services for patients who have limited English proficiency, are functionally illiterate, or are deaf or hard of hearing to reduce patient care errors, improve communication with patients, and thereby reduce disparities.” The push for greater access to language services is aligned with President Obama’s efforts to provide “quality, affordable care to all Americans.” Click here to read this letter to President Obama

Automatic Email Translation for Gmail users!

Gmail has just announced their integration of Google’s newest program: Automatic Translation Technology. Now you can receive emails in a language other than your own! It’s simple. All you need to do is enable "Message Translation" from the ‘Labs tab’ under “Settings”. You might not get the accuracy of sentence structure as you would with professional translation, but it’s a start in email’s movement towards multilingual communication.

Click here for more details.

Garfield Goes Bilingual

Uclick and Paws, Inc. have just released a new iPhone and iPod Touch app called Garfield y Garfield, which features more than 100 Garfield comics in English and Spanish. The creators boast that the new app helps users learn words and phrases in another language by toggling between English and Spanish versions of the popular comic. Uclick CEO Douglas Edwards says "Garfield y Garfield is a groundbreaking application that makes studying a second language convenient, engaging and fun." Read more

Spanish Translation: The Need of Neutral Language

The Hispanic population has grown significantly within the last couple of years and so has the need for Spanish translation. However, meeting the needs for language translation in Spanish is a trickier process than one may think. According to an article put out by Chief Marketer, Chanin Ballance points out that “[s]poken in some 23 countries by more than 450 million people, the language we know as ‘Spanish’ is in truth really more a family of closely related languages. […] If you have visited Madrid and Mexico City you know this firsthand. The idioms, slang, pronunciation and even grammar in one differ noticeably from those in the other.”

This is all very true-- one region such as Columbia can have term or phrase that differs from that in Mexico. So, what do we do to meet the language liaison for Spanish? The answer is “go neutral.” Univision, a widely known Spanish channel, and other Spanish media have developed a “neutral Spanish” within their programming that meets all different backgrounds of Spanish speakers. In short, they have created this sense of Layman’s term within the Spanish language. Ballance says that “Latin American Spanish tends to disregard local grammatical and vocabulary differences in order to standardize the language.” It’s easiest if you can identify the exact region and location of Spanish needed for any translation, but sometimes this gets to be a bigger task than necessary. Because Latin American Spanish can meet all standards and acts as a common language, it is widely used in translations today.

For more on this article click here.

"Don't forget to carry your thing"

The header represents an actual caution sign displayed in a Shanghai cab found by German author Oliver Radtke. China's specific translation of English, or “Chinglish”, as referred by Radtke, has created quite a skeptic controversy in language translation. In Radtke’s book, Chinglish: Found in Translation, he explains that “[a] lot of the Chinglish signs carry a certain Chinese notion in them which enriches the English language and makes English more Chinese in the sense that there is a certain Chinese flavor, a certain Chinese way of thinking.” Although, from a cultural adaption of translation, this might be true, but in reality, the translation is still wrong. The faulty syntax and wrong use of idioms brings up the real problem in today’s language translation: wrong translation leads to wrong information. Excusing the errors in incorrect translations interrupts the initial purpose of translation itself. Translation means to provide correct information and communication in an alternative language. So, is Radtke’s “Chinglish” theory a cultural perk needed to be embraced or an excuse for faulty translation?

For more click here.

Swine Flu Pandemic: Increase in Outline Translations

The H1N1 virus or Swine Flu, has been the talk of the news since its first outbreak in Mexico on March 17. 11 days later, the first cases of Swine flu hit the US, creating a scare within schools and workplaces. Today, Web Wire released a publication stating that, "[a]ll public school systems nationwide are required by federal law to maintain a pandemic response plan". This includes sending flyers home with students outlining vital information and instructions about the Swine Flu and recognizing signs of symptoms. With a substantial rise in U.S. immigrant population, Web Wire states that “having this information available in languages other than English is more important than ever.” Translating information and reaching all families is a vital importance in easing panic and questions-“[s]chool districts are requesting informative translations into several languages such as Spanish, Tagalog, Russian and Vietnamese.”

For more information click here.

For translation services provided by Dynamic Language, please contact Rick Antezana at web@dynamiclanguage.com

Are Languages becoming Extinct?

According to The Economist and UNESCO, 53 languages have become extinct since 1950 in America; that’s more than in any other country. As of right now, a quarter of the world speaks three majority languages: Mandarin, English, and Spanish; the rest are at risk or have been extinct for quite some time. Could it be that out of 6,000 plus languages in the world, we’re to expect that eventually only one common language will exist? Click here for more details.

Dynamic Language Nominated for 2009 Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) “Supplier of the Year Awards Program"

Dynamic Language is up for a nomination at the 2009 Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) “Supplier of the Year Awards Program.” For nearly 25 years, Dynamic Language has been providing top quality, reliable language translations and interpreting services for customers around the world. Clients and customers are the company’s number one priority and with a dedicated, hardworking staff, Dynamic Language is honored to be considered a nominee—excellent job Dynamic!

Further details to be announced.

Welcome to Dynamic's Language Services Blog!

For nearly 25 years, our women-owned, family-owned business has provided high quality language translation and interpreting services. Over thousands of projects, our talented team at Dynamic Language has learned important best practices and tips about the language services industry, and we continue to stay current on the latest translation technologies and trends.

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iPhone's Newest Application: “Free Translator”

Since the iPhone’s big release in the summer of 2007, Google has been persistent in providing reliable iPhone applications to support “a friendlier interface.” Their newest edition is the ‘Free Translator’ application which allows business partners, clients, and prospects to interact using various languages.
‘Free Translator’ allows one individual to text a message in their "target" language while the recipient receives messages in their "source" language. For example, the "target" language could be English, but the recipient’s "source" language could be French. Google notes that “the quality of translation is generally very good indeed" which guarantees that "you can type in the most abstract sentences and something sensible will emerge."

For more information click here.