2014: the year of opportunities for inWhatLanguage!

I can hardly believe it’s been a year since I wrote the “Triskaidekaphobia? No Thanks!” post for this blog.  Back then, shortly after being recently appointed as the new Marketing Manager, I composed my first end-of-the-year article with a summary of what 2012 meant to inWhatLanguage, and a hopeful list of things to come in 2013. Well, now I can happily say with confidence that I didn’t exaggerate one bit. 2013 has been, simply speaking, an awesome year for inWhatLanguage.

For starters, we have tripled our size last year. Step by step, iWL is transforming itself from a promising little translation agency  into a big company with infinite potential. While at first we mainly focused on businesses in the US, now 20% of our clients come from Europe and other parts of the word. And that is a mighty sum, considering that over the last year we have serviced over 1,500 new clients!

The increase in demand has obviously required a new impulse from our staff. In 2013 we have added new members to our core team, and over 500 more linguist from all over the world. We have expanded our capabilities in the medical, technology, IT, software, and eLearning industries, and we enhanced our abilities with voice-over, subtitling, and all other multimedia related tasks.

Our website has also experienced a healthy evolution during the year. We have completed "Our Gold Standard" section on the iWL website. We also have started developing our new interactive client portal, which is a really exciting endeavor. And last, but definitely not least, we have opened a brand new department that will be further developed during the coming year: iWL Academia.

And in order to make all of this well-known and worth it, we have invested heavily into technology and marketing development for the company, with measures like protecting our cool trademark and our company name, logo and tagline or shooting a batch of cool promo videos. Some of our clients have voluntarily sent us absolutely fantastic testimonial videos with their opinions about our services, which at the end of the day is the most honest and flattering type of publicity we can ever get. 

Furthermore, we have improved our Facebook and Twitter pages and gained thousands of new followers, and we have given our Google+ page a noticeable boost.

Lastly, a little journey back in time through the blog pages will also give you a good overview of all the amazing adventures and events iWL has taken part in during the last year. The Rubber Ducky Derby, iWL’s trip to Brazil, our sponsorship of the “Road to Success” project -which helps children learn to read in bilingual schools-, our presence in the DevLearn conference…

Seriously, who ever said that 13 was an unlucky number…?

The road has been long and exciting, and we are definitely thirsty for more. “2014 will be more of the same,” says iWL CEO, Cody Broderick. “I want to double our business this year, add 2-3 more team members, continue giving back to the community, and most importantly, continue creating an awesome culture where people love to work together.”

And, out of experience, I can definitely say that this statement, again, is not an exaggeration. We welcome you 2014! iWL is eager to see what you have in store for us!

Christmas at inWhatLanguage!

At the tables, from left to right, Sondra Creps and Veronica Johnson.
On the floor, Natalie Herrera, Brian Palmer and Ty Palmer.

inWhatLanguage has had its good share of changes and surprises in the last months, but nothing could stop us from being infected with the Christmas spirit. So this year, in our new offices and with a bunch of new people, we are celebrating the holiday season with more joy than ever!

Of course, we never forget those who, for many reasons, cannot celebrate these days the way they would like to. That is why this year iWL is lending a helping hand to three families that could use a little support in order to have a holiday season to remember.

Brian and Ty Palmer with one of the people who received gifts from iWL.

“We are sponsoring three families - parents and kids - that are the type of people that are in great need but would never ask for it. We found it by asking friends through social media,” explains inWhatLanguage CEO, Cody Broderick. Once again, the leader of our little iWL family shows his philanthropic side with an admirable will to help others and a great commitment to society.

Christmas is a time to be with family, to love and to share, and the team at inWhatLanguage does take this very seriously. “There's something very special about this time of year. At inWhatLanguage, we're all big fans of the holiday season,” adds Broderick. “From our hearts to yours, we wish you a joyful Christmas and a wonderful 2014.”

No need for further words – let the bells jingle and have yourself a merry little Christmas!

Meet Brian Palmer, our new Sr. Account Executive!

Today we give a warm welcome to our latest member of the iWL family: Brian Palmer!

Brian was born and raised in Utah.  He grew up in West Jordan until he was 13 years old when his parents uprooted them all to South Jordan.

Brian is youngest of five; three older brothers and one older sister. All four of his siblings and parents still live in Utah and all within 40 minutes of one another.  He loves spending time with them when he can.

He graduated from Bingham High School, and shortly after graduating, the next three years he took on the role of store manager and area manager at Journeys Retail Shoes here in Utah, as well as in Nevada.

After 3+ years in the glitz and glamour of the Nevada Desert, Brian moved home to attend Salt Lake Community College for 2 years, to receive an Associates Degree in Criminal Justice.

After receiving his degree, Brian continued to work with Journeys for a few more years until receiving a promotion to the Genesco Corporate Offices, based in Nashville, Tennessee, to be an Operations Project Coordinator.  Although Brian loves Tennessee, the South and his job, his family was in Utah.  After 5+ years in the Volunteer State, Brian decided to return home to the Beehive State.  Genesco created a Loss Prevention Manager position based in Utah so he could continue to work for them as well as to be closer to his daughter Sayuri.

Shortly after returning to Utah, Brian met the most amazing woman he had ever encountered. Luckily, Brian was able to convince Emma to be his wife and were recently married in May of 2013.

In Brian’s last position, he travelled every week, leaving Monday and returning Thursday or Friday, as a Loss Prevention Manager. The travel got wearing, and he wanted to be home more and expand his knowledge while utilizing skills he already had. Brian was referred to inWhatLanguage through his brother-in-law, and immediately after his first meeting with iWL CEO Cody Broderick, Brian was enticed by the culture and goals he had – and not only by the company, but also by its employees and clients. Brian is pumped to begin and looks forward to his future with inWhatLanguage.

With this new position locally, Brian is also looking forward to spending more time with his wife, daughter, and get back into CrossFit and mountain biking.

We are excited to have you with us, Brian! Welcome!!

Linguists forums: the answer to huge translation projects

Translation projects can come in a wide variety of types, genres and sizes, but nonetheless they must always be equally correct and coherent. While we all pretty much can assume the former, quality from any professional translator, the latter can get tricky when a project reaches a certain size.

For perfect coherence in a translation project, the ideal option is to have one translator do the whole job on his/her own. That, however, can prove to be quite impossible when we are talking about millions of words, especially with a tight deadline. The client can be tolerant and understanding to a point, but a whole project of these dimensions done by one person can take ages, and sometimes that is not possible. The solution, in these cases, is to divide the workload among several translators.

Sure, that sounds logical enough. But then again, let us think about translation for a minute. If we give one single sentence to ten different linguists, the results we obtain after they have translated it can very easily be ten slightly (or sometimes, very) different translated statements. And whereas perhaps none of them is actually wrong, that means that if those ten linguists work on one single project divided in ten parts, each part would differ significantly from the others. The result could be a translation where the divided parts are clearly noticeable, and in the worst case scenario, confusing to the reader. And that, folks, is simply unacceptable.

How to solve this? Word data banks, shared glossaries and thesauri are powerful tools that can help with these issues, but at the end of the day, the only method that could guarantee success is proper communication between the translators involved in the project. That means regular contact, availability, the will to help others, and a dash of humility in order to admit that sometimes we are not the ones in the right.

A hard-to-find combination? Maybe so, but not for inWhatLanguage. We have pointed out many times that we have an awesome working team, and today we give you further proof of this. In one of our latest projects that involves four Spanish translators, one of them, Farid Mazari, came up the brilliant idea of starting a private forum just to discuss matters related to the project: deadlines, doubts, and above all, terminology!

“It is a luxury to be able to collaborate with other translators in joint projects, especially when we are talking about a job that must be undertaken by many people, with its added technical and linguistic difficulties,” Mazari says. “In my personal experience, I’ve come to the conclusion that we have to coordinate our efforts and optimize the knowledge exchange flow, since sometimes deadlines are aggressively tight.”

Mazari suggests other translators to consider private forums with restricted access when they face this kind of projects. “Forums allow us to answer questions about words, unify criteria and other style issues,” he assures.

And, I gotta say, as one of those four translators in the project who actively participates in the forum he created, I completely agree. It has helped me enormously, and it has made this whole project special and fun – which is a nice perk!

iWL: new offices, new faces, new agency

2013 is coming to an end. Quite a great year for inWhatLanguage! However, we are never satisfied: we want more challenges, and we want to reach more people!

This month, a new era begins for inWhatLanguage. We are working on projects that are larger than anything we have ever done before, we are reaching new clients and taking new opportunities, and we have some pretty exciting plans in the pipeline!

We are looking forward to strengthening our social commitment and keep helping those who need it the most with the fruits of our work, that which we do best: provide high quality translations at affordable prices.

Not only that: in the next few weeks, we are going to see new faces in the team... And we are moving to a brand new office!

Our new location is:

inWhatLanguage Translation Services

2507 S. 300 W. Salt Lake City,

Utah 84115

Don't hesitate to pay us a visit if you are close by – we’ll be delighted to have a good cup of coffee and get to know you! 

TechLaw Ventures' feedback: thumbs up for iWL!

This week, inWhatLanguage got another nice surprise from a very special client of ours! Another video testimonial, this time from TechLaw Ventures, “a professional limited liability company created by its founders to be a venture and technology law firm”, as described in its official website.

TechLaw Ventures provides “legal counsel to software, computer, biotech, healthcare, chemical, and other technology and innovative companies”, and they are actively working with clients in Taiwan and Japan.

That is where inWhatLanguage comes into play.

I won’t write much more, since I think that, in this case, the video in itself is more than enough content for this week’s blog post. It is incredibly sweet, and we feel proud to have clients say these things about us. But I’ll just point out a couple of things, really quickly.

First of all, the fact that TechLawVentures trusts us to do their translations says a lot. We are talking about a technology law firm, here. They need very, very specific translation services for which they probably wouldn’t risk going to just anyone for. It is amazing that they've asked us to do it – let alone the fact that they actually produced a video to let others know that we are indeed what we promise to be: a trust-worthy, competent translation agency that is there for their every need.

Secondly, I just love how Mr. Smith, spokesperson for TechLaw Ventures, highlights our selection process in the video. What he says about having read many different translated versions of one text made by different linguists in order to make a decision about which professional is best suited for his projects is kind of our trademark. Because, even though we trust and love all of our linguists, it is the client, at the end of the day, the one who really knows how they want their work to be displayed to the world, and who could get closer to that ideal. The fact that our clients recognize that, and choose us for it, really means the world to us.

And lastly, just one more thing…

Thank you, TechLaw Ventures!

Jackpot in Las Vegas: iWL goes to DevLearn!

The translation industry is a competitive world, and we know that better than anyone. As much as we want to provide our clients and potential customers with high-quality translation and interpretation services at the best prices, we know that there are millions of capable professionals out there who can also do a good job and appeal to those whom we are trying to reach.

Ty Palmer and Cody Broderick at DevLearn!

The more reason to keep improving ourselves.

The best thing about inWhatLanguage may be our youth – that means, our energy, and our will to learn new things. We know that we are living in a time where written translations are quickly losing importance in favor of new media, and we are more than willing to be part of this revolution.  eLearning, in particular, is becoming one of our main focuses, as it grows daily in popularity, and its potential for translation is, well, immense!

And so, it should come to no surprise that inWhatLanguage took grasp of the amazing opportunity of being present at the DevLearn Conference 2013, the most cutting-edge training and learning event in North America, that took place last month in Las Vegas.

In the very own words of the event’s official website, “DevLearn 2013 is for training and learning professionals who are leading or engaged in their organizations’ use of learning technologies.” Who should go to Dev Learn? Those who want to “find out what’s next in the world of learning, discover new technologies and approaches and learn side-by-side with colleagues and experts.” No wonder iWL fit like a glove in there!

iWL CEO Cody Broderick leaves little room for doubt when asked what his opinion of the experience was. “DevLearn was fabulous! It was great to be surrounded by the leading creators and providers in the eLearning and training development industry.”

iWL’s booth at the conference was a cozy, well-lit 10x10 space that was quite well received, in Broderick’s words. “Our presence was definitely felt at the conference. We had countless people complimenting the professionalism of our team and the look of our booth.”

Well, you know what they say, right? Nothing like a good first impression to keep the people coming! The iWL team’s  efforts didn’t go to waste, at the end of the day. “We spoke to hundreds of people and walked away with many valuable new relationships,” says Broderick. “And even better, many new projects!”

Now if that isn’t killing two birds with one stone, what is? Three, actually: the opportunity to learn about an interesting topic, a wonderful experience and atmosphere, and new contacts and projects. Really, iWL hit the jackpot in Las Vegas last October!

“Overall, it was a success, and inWhatLanguage will definitely be expanding as a leading provider of expert level translation services for all developers and service providers in this industry,” Cody Broderick assures with a smile.

Transcription: a job for the chosen ones

Isn’t it funny how, when trying to understand a foreign language, it is always easier to read it than to simply listen to it? Take movies, for instance. How many of us have turned on the subtitles option, even just to have the same dialogues that are being recited by the actors, displayed in its written form at the bottom of the screen?

It is evident that, if you want to convey a message and you don’t want to risk having to deal with misunderstandings, misinterpretations or misspellings, you have to have this message written down. When words are transformed into written text, they become timeless, eternal, and they are never lost.

But, of course, writing down a speech, or more accurately, the act of transcription, is one of the most mind-, patience- and time-consuming exercises I can think of.

The Canadian novelist and playwright Ann-Marie MacDonald said it once: “Writing is a hellish task; best snuck up on, whacked on the head, robbed, and left for dead”. Transcribers could easily add to this: “And transcribing is the epitome of this definition”.

Most people are just not made to be transcribers: it requires a great short-term memory and unbelievable typing speed. And you just have to like it, otherwise it can feel like a punishment. Transcription is simply one of those jobs that one has to leave to professionals: those who are born with the gift to do it, and to do it well.

inWhatLanguage not only provides superior quality transcription services, but it also offers a huge array of languages in which our expert translators and transcribers can deliver perfectly transcribed texts out of any audio and video file you might need. From recorded meetings and telephone calls to video surveillance and legal recordings, you can rest assured knowing that whatever your transcription translation project might consist of, we have the translation experience and expertise to deliver excellent results at our translation firm. Our transcription translation firm handles all file types and we work with over 160 different languages at our office while tailoring solutions to your unique transcription requirements.

Our trick is to combine expert in-country translators, exceptional word-processing skills, detailed quality reviews, and unmatched client support throughout the entire process. In actuality, nothing that we don’t already provide with any of the other services iWL has to offer – but of course, we have the big advantage of a large network of linguist all over the world, some of whom specialized in this particular field of the translation industry.

Need a long, important speech transcribed? Don’t sweat it. Just entrust it to us, and get a load off your shoulders!

Happy Halloween and All Saints' Day!

October 31st and November 1st are special dates in several countries where many different languages are spoken. As an international translation agency with professional translators and clients from all over the word, inWhatLanguage didn’t want to miss the opportunity to wish you all a happy celebration… And to share some general language-related trivia about these holidays.

For example: it is generally known that Halloween is a abbreviation of “All Hallows Evening”. “Hallow” is, in fact, Old English for “holy”. But how exactly did it transform into “Halloween”?

Well, first of all, “Evening” was shortened to “Eve”, same as in many other celebration names.

However, in the Scots language, “Eve” is pronounced “Even”, and this form got shortened to “E’en”. So first take All Hallows Eve, then take off the “All”, the “s” in the middle, and give it a Scots touch… And voilá. We got ourselves a Halloween.

In the same spirit of shortening words, the popular Jack-o-lanterns is in fact a shortened version of “Jack of the lantern” a fictional character whose origins date back to old folk tales. According to the information on Wikipedia, “an old Irish folk tale from the mid-19th Century tells of Stingy Jack, a lazy yet shrewd farmer who uses a cross to trap the Devil in order for him not to take his soul”. 

Unfortunately, this meant that, when Jack died, even though his life had been too sinful for him to be allowed into heaven, he could not go to hell, either. Jack had nowhere to go. He asked about how would he see where to go, as he had no light to guide his path, and the Devil mockingly tossed him an ember from the flames of hell that would never burn out. Jack carved out one of his turnips (which were his favorite food), put the ember inside it, and began endlessly wandering the Earth for a resting place. He became known as "Jack of the Lantern", or Jack-o'-lantern.

Nowadays, the popular form of Jack-o’-lantern is in the shape of a pumpkin, but in some parts of Great Britain, turnips are still the preferred option for Halloween!

As for today, All Saints’ Day –or All Hallows-, it is interesting to see the different celebrations –and it’s names in different languages- from around the world. Again, quoting Wikipedia, “In Mexico, Portugal and Spain, offerings (Portuguese: oferendas, Spanish: ofrendas) are made on this day.” Furthermore, in Mexico, this day “coincides with the first day of the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) celebration. Known as "Día de los Inocentes" (Day of the Innocents), it honours deceased children and infants.”

“Portuguese children celebrate the Pão-por-Deus tradition (also called santorinho, bolinho or fiéis de Deus), going door-to-door, where they receive cakes, nuts and pomegranates. Hallowmas in the Philippines is variously called "Undas" (based on the word for "[the] first"), "Todos los Santos" (literally "All Saints"), and sometimes "Áraw ng mga Patáy" (lit. "Day of the Dead"), which refers to the following day of All Souls' Day but includes it.”

“In English-speaking countries, the festival is traditionally celebrated with the hymn "For All the Saints" by Walsham How.”

So as a conclusion to this blog post, here is a video with this hymn. Enjoy!

Languages similar to other languages: proceed with caution!

Yesterday I did a translation from Portuguese to Spanish. A written translation, of course. Because, as a matter of fact, I don’t speak Portuguese. Never in my life have I studied it. But being a Spanish native speaker, and having studied Italian, French, Latin and other Romance languages, understanding written Portuguese is sort of a given.

Am I writing this text to turn this usual assumption around? No. I did understand it, and I did deliver a good translation, if I can say so myself. But an important part of the reason why the translation was a success, was that I had a talented proofreader who understood the intricacies of both languages and the subtle differences that can mean a world of difference in a translated text.

Romance languages are effectively very close to one another. But precisely because of their similarities, the people who are familiar with only some of them tend to get a little overconfident in understanding them all. Especially when we are talking about Spanish, Portuguese and Italian speakers.

These three cases are so similar that if three people native to any country where these languages are spoken met and talked to each other in their own languages slowly and clearly, they could probably understand most of what the other is saying without much trouble. Reading is usually not that big of a problem, either. They share most their word origins, and the verb tenses are similar in their structures.

But not identical.

Words like “burro” (butter), “salire” (go up) o “genero” (son-in-law) in Italian; “suceso” (event), “vaso” (glass) or “aceite” (oil) in Spanish; and “cena” (scene), criança (child) or “seta” (arrow) in Portuguese; they are all tiny examples that can confuse a translator to the point of delivering a final product that can only be good for a laugh. And whereas that might sound fun for a hobby, it is simply not acceptable for a professional translation agency. After all, they can mean the difference between a choppy job and a translation that can grant you trust and more potential clients.

That is why it is a professional translator’s and proofreader's job to be aware of this, and to put into a translation all the care and the caution that it deserves, even –or maybe “even more so” would be more fitting- when it is a translation from a language that is especially similar to one's own. Because we are not doing something that just looks and sounds “right”. We are providing a service that only we can do, and our knowledge, our added value, is key.

And if you are not sure that you can deal with all of this, then don’t be shy to admit it. Always focus on what you do best: don’t go wandering into uncharted territory when you don’t have a proper map. If you are fluent in only two languages, then stick to those.

Better to deliver one high quality product than a thousand mediocre ones, right?

iWL and FIFA: the new team for the World Cup!

inWhatLanguage is currently celebrating one of the greatest projects this translation agency has ever had the chance to undertake!

FIFA, as in, the Fédération Internationalede Football Association -the international governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer, comprised of 209 national associations and responsible for the organization of football's major international tournaments-, has chosen us to translate its materials into 10+ languages in preparation for the upcoming World Cup. Just how awesome is that?!

We were selected after a two month competitive process against 15 other pre-selected translation companies, so I guess we could say that iWL’s quality and its employees’ skills really shone through - enough for the seasoned professionals at the FIFA headquarters to finally pick us as their trusted provider of translation services.

We are already translating website content, magazines and print media, and we will also begin translating news and press releases periodically until next April. We will then continue to translate throughout the world cup and beyond.

So congratulations, iWL! This is the real deal!!

Since we are on the subject, I would like to take the chance to ponder a question that has been bugging me for a while. As a European citizen, I never understood why what we call “football” here is called “soccer” in America. Well, after doing a little research, I found the answer in Yellow How To – quite an interesting example of how new words can be created out of the less significant events. Namely, a word joke, in this case.

“In the mid 1800s in England, two styles of football were emerging and becoming codified. One, based on passing the ball with the hands, originated in the posh public school, Rugby, and took that name for its own. The other, based on dribbling the ball with the feet, came to be called “association” football after its parent body the Football Association.

Once the forms of football had their identities and official names, the English penchant for slang and abbreviation came into play. Rugby was often known colloquially as “rugger” and association football was shortened to “assoc”.

There is a story that Charles Wreford-Brown, an official in the Football Association, was once asked by some university friends to play a game of “rugger” with them. Making a play on that word, he told them that he’d rather play “soccer” instead.

Whether this story describes the real origin of the name “soccer”, or whether the abbreviation “assoc” simply evolved into the more rhythmic and euphonious “soccer” over time, will probably never be known.”

There are more interesting facts surrounding this football/soccer phenomenon that you can read directly in the source article.

For now, let us just rejoice in iWL’s latest –and possibly greatest!- project, and await even more eagerly the next World Cup in Brazil. It’s gonna rock!!

inWhatLanguage goes to Brazil!

For those of us who knew inWhatLanguage when it was still a tiny new company trying to find a place in the competitive world of translation services, it is truly amazing to see how the agency has grown – in size, in reach, and in reputation.

This is, of course, thanks to the collective effort of the amazing iWL team. Each and every member of the iWL family does his/her bit to turn the company into one of the best, most reliable translation agencies one can find out there.

There is, though, a factor of chance, as well. Or a factor of chance-taking, perhaps. Great opportunities don’t come in huge numbers, and that makes it all the more important to realize when one comes your way. Such is the case of iWL’s latest adventure: a visit to the wonderful country of Brazil.

iWL CEO Cody Broderick didn’t hesitate when he was offered the chance to go there on a trade mission with the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development to promote Utah, along with approximately 30 more people from different industries of the state. Not only was it a great opportunity to discover the wonders that this paradisiacal country has to offer, but also “to create new relationships, explore business opportunities, help represent the state, and most importantly, explore and open new business development ideas for iWL,” Broderick states.

In the six days that iWL CEO was in Brazil (September 22nd – 28th), he got to visit Sao Paulo, Campinas, Curitiba, Londrina, and Rio de Janeiro. In each of these cities, he met with government officials, and discussed ways in which they couldn collaborate for business opportunities. “These discussions included every sector I can think of: gas and oil, finance, energy, telecom, agriculture, retail, services, etcetera,” Broderick explains. “After these talks, we attended dinner and networking events in the evenings."

“Business ideas and collaborations were definitely flowing!” Cody Broderick adds. “It helped to mention that we work with IBM, Harvard, MIT, and other reputable organizations that already have a presence in Brazil.”

That, and the fact that Broderick speaks fluent Brazilian Portuguese. In the true spirit of a professional translation agency, he got to speak with the locals in their own language, achieving a degree of closeness befitting of the Hard at work!representative of inWhatLanguage. Sure enough, though, not everything was business-related: “The people, weather, food, and cities were all wonderful!” Broderick stresses emphatically.

“I am grateful for the relationships I created with the other Utah delegation members and I’m confident that we will have a lot of business that will come from this adventure,” he concludes. “It truly was a trip of a lifetime!”

About languages and dialects

I originally come from Spain, a land where dialects are almost as important as the actual official national language. These are taught in public schools, are used in public events, on TV and other media. They are revered as part of our cultural heritage, and as such, the authorities invest time and money in having people remember them, study and practice them daily, achieving at the end of the day the main goal: for them to be a normal part of society, not a luxury or a rarity.

In Germany, where I live, dialects have a different connotation. Perhaps not everywhere – Bavarians love and gladly preserve their own dialect, and it is very likely being to be spoken in many parts of Munich these days, as the Oktoberfest goes moves into  its second week. But in Rheinland, the area where I live, Kölsch, the regional dialect of Cologne, is nowadays exclusively used in Carnival festivities and in traditional folk songs.

People no longer use it to communicate as a general rule. And even if that is something that German students like me should feel thankful for, since it can really be a nightmare to understand for non-fluent German speakers (and even fluent ones), I can’t help feeling sorrowful, as well. Its fate seems linked to that of extinct languages such as Latin, with practically no speakers and only remembered among the general public in popular songs.

That being said, it is still a better fate than to be completely forgotten. Kölsch people love their Kölsch dialect, and they sing it with all their hearts whenever the opportunity arises. Yesterday I got a chance to see it with my very own eyes when a band started playing folk songs in a brewery. They also gave us booklets so that we could read the text and sing along. For me, thought, it turned into an actual deciphering exercise: I read the text aloud and tried to understand the meaning of the words, comparing them to the German language. For a language lover such as myself, it was an immensely enjoyable experience, and hence, I decided to share it with you.

Here are the lyrics of a Kölsch song by the local band Höhner:

Blootwoosch, kölsch un e lecker mädche!

Dä Pitter, dä wor eines Dachs plötzlich fott.
Erus us Kölle op nem urahle Pott.
Sing Mamm, die krät ald richtich dr Zidder,
doch dä Ühm meinte nur: "Kein Angs, dä kütt widder"!

Refrain:
Blootwoosch, Kölsch un e lecker Mädche,
dat bruch ene Kölsche, öm jlöcklich zo sin.
Blootwoosch, Kölsch un e lecker Mädche,
dat fings do nur he, en Kölle am Rhing.

Hück wor'e he, un morje ald do,
doch dann wod däm Pitter no Monate klor.
Im dät jet fähle, dat sat im sie Hätz,
do es hä janz flöck Richtung Kölle jewätz.

Refrain:
Blootwoosch, Kölsch un e lecker Mädche...

Doheim en Kölle, wor et ehts, wat hä sat:
Jetz e Kölsch un en Flönz, ich han lang drop jewat.
Un in Nippes, do hät hä jet kennejeliert.
Nächste Woch ald wed Huhzick gefiert.

Refrain:
Blootwoosch, Kölsch un e lecker Mädche...

And here is the translation in German:

Blutwurst, Kölsch und ein leckeres Mädchen!

Der Peter, der war eines Tages plötzlich weg.
Raus aus Köln auf einem uralten Schiff.
Seine Mutter zitterte schon richtig,
doch der Onkel sagte nur: Keine Angst, der kommt wieder!

Refrain:
Blutwurst, Kölsch und ein leckeres Mädchen,
das braucht ein Kölner um glücklich zu sein,
Blutwurst, Kölsch und ein leckeres Mädchen,
das findest du nur hier, in Köln am Rhein.

Heute war er hier, und morgen schon da,
doch dann wurde dem Peter nach Monaten klar,
ihm fehlte etwas, das sagte ihm sein Herz,
da ist er ganz schnell Richtung Köln gewetzt.

Refrain

Zuhause in Köln war das erste was er sagt:
Jetzt ein Kölsch und eine Blutwurst, ich habe lange drauf gewartet.
Auf der Kirmes da hat er eine kennengelernt,
nächste Woche schon wird Hochzeit gefeiert.

Refrain

You think you can sing it? Here is the actual song, so that you can sing along with the lyrics. Try it, seriously! It is a lot of fun!

Top 5 Translation Mistakes with Real Consequences

Translation mistakes are often just funny little errors, but sometimes they can also cause big headaches and cost big money to fix. We've combed the internet for stories of translations gone wrong, ranging from expensive snafus to true tragedies. Remember: the only way to avoid potentially disastrous translation mistakes is to use a true professional translation firm like inWhatLanguage.

5 Giant Translation Mistakes with Real-World Consequences

1. When a Global Bank Used a Depressing Catchphrase.

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) is one of the largest banks in the world. Yet, even such a large and successful company can hit roadblocks when they're careless in multilingual translation. In 2009 their catchphrase "Assume Nothing" was translated in many global markets as "Do Nothing," which isn't really the kind of persuasive pitch a marketing campaign generally likes to make. HSBC immediately had to spend millions rebranding in the affected markets.

via Mental Floss

2. When a Mistranslation Almost Killed a Large Company.

In late 2012, when Sharp Corp. released its earnings report, the outlook was already bleak, as the company had been lagging significantly behind the electronic giants, consistently losing market share. However, when they translated their earnings report into English, they translated their acknowledgement of the company's struggles as "material doubt" that the company could continue to be a "going concern." The language in the English version was much stronger and gloomier than the original Japanese statement. Unintentionally, the company had basically predicted its own demise. Investors panicked and Sharp's stock plunged even farther to a total annual decline of 75%.

via the Wall Street Journal

3. When a Translation Error Made the Cold War a Little Colder.

In 1956, already rocky US-Soviet relations took a big hit when a speech by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was mistranslated as much more threatening than it intended to be. Khrushchev's speech was intended to critique capitalism and suggest that the Soviet Union would far outlive the American capitalist system. In Russian, he used an idiom that meant essentially "We will outlast you and live to see your burial." It was translated as the much more ominous "We will bury you." While approaching literal accuracy, the translation represented a very different message than Khrushchev's intention. As expected, American's didn't like being threatened and that mistranslation helped heighten the already frigid Cold War.

via Cracked.com

4. When One Word Had Huge, Tragic, Medical Consequences.

In 1980, a man was brought unconscious into a Florida emergency room. His friends who brought him in thought he had food poisoning. They didn't speak English, but used the Spanish word "intoxicado," meaning "poisoned," to describe his state. A staff member translated it incorrectly as "intoxicated" and the doctors proceeded to treat him for a drug overdose. The delay in his receiving proper treatment resulted in his becoming paralyzed. One tiny translation error cost a man his mobility and the hospital 71 million dollars in the subsequent lawsuit.

via Mental Floss

5. When It Seemed Like Japan Was Begging Us to Bomb Them, but They Really Weren't.

In July 1945, near the end of World War II, the Allied leaders met in Potsdam and drafted proposed terms to Japan's surrender and sent them to the Japanese government for their response. While Japan was still examining and weighing their options, the Japanese press asked them how they would respond. The word they used, "mokusatsu" can mean either "no comment" or "we're ignoring them with contempt." The context of the situation made it clear to the Japanese media that they meant "no comment," but American translators used the contemptuous response. The translation error directly influenced Truman's decision to use the atom bomb and made it seem more necessary than it would have otherwise. It's hard to imagine the stakes being higher for a translation error, and it's hard to imagine any more dire consequences.

via the NSA

While most translation errors don't affect international relations, commerce, and individual lives the way these did, translation errors quite frequently cause a lot of trouble and cost a lot of money to fix. The only way to avoid these kind of errors is to entrust your translation to a careful, experienced translation agency like inWhatLanguage. We only use the most skilled translators for our clients' projects, and we pass all translation projects through our verification processes, best-practices, and optimizing operations. At inWhatLanguage, you get translations you can trust, quickly and affordably.

inWhatLanguage, investing in the future: bilingual schools

The new school year is upon us. A reason to celebrate, not only for children and adult students; but also for the inWhatLanguage team members, as well.

InWhatLanguage is a professional translation agency, and as such we provide high-quality translation and interpretation services to those who need accurate, fast results at an affordable price. This, however, can only be achieved by  the talent of thousands of extremely gifted linguists, translators and interpreters, for whom education, and more specifically, language education, has been a key part of their lives. Without a good understanding  of world culture, social skills, tolerance and foreign languages, our translators would probably lack the special touch they bring to our translations, and without it, we could not have reached the quality level we can pride ourselves in.

For these reasons, it is obvious that we at inWhatLanguage feel a special bond with the world of language education. We don’t teach language per se, but we eagerly support innovative, promising programs that offer alternatives for children and adults to improve their language skills and get ready for a globalized world.

And there is no better way to prove this than to actually invest in them.

Such is the case of Ken Garff Automotive Group’s community program “Road to Success”. A program of the “Success in Education Foundation”, as described on Ken Garff’s official website, Road to Success is “designed to reward students for making and reaching academic goals so they feel a sense of accomplishment, thereby building the foundation for future learning”, and it follows a strategy of offering many attractive prices for kids in exchange for their efforts in improving their reading skills. Road to Success has proven to be a success in itself in many many schools in the state of Utah.

In its commitment to education AND to languages, inWhatLanguage has decided to take part in this wonderful initiative by sponsoring one of those schools – a dual immersion school where children between the ages of 5 to 12 study for half the day in English and half the day in Spanish. Furthermore, iWL members visit these children once a month and read books to them –both in English and in Spanish-, play games and engage in all sorts of fun, interactive activities with them.

“Our sponsorship dollars are put towards incentives that the children can earn based on the amount of reading they complete,” says inWhatLanguage CEO, Cody Broderick. “It’s a win-win situation for everyone.”

After participating in the amazing Rubber Ducky Derby, organized by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, whose main goal is to make sick children’s dreams come true, iWL’s commitment to  society and children has gotten even stronger. “Community involvement and non-profitable campaigns are also something that we will be highly involved with moving forward,” Broderick assures. “It really is the brand I want to build for inWhatLanguage.”

Man vs. Machine: The Difference Human Translation Makes

Machines can do amazing things, but they can't do everything. One thing they don't do so well? Communicate. Frankly, if your computer were a person, with those communication skills, he'd be on his third wife by now. So why would people trust a computer-generated translation with important personal and business translation projects? There's a time and place for automated translations, but for large and important translation projects, you need a real human translator with subject-matter expertise and cultural interpretation.

Automated Translation Tools: Fast & Free, but Sloppy

Automated translation tools, like the one we have on our site, are fine for small or unimportant translations. Their algorithms are simple and basically provide a one-for-one, literal word translation. If you just need to know how to say a single phrase or sentence, these tools are great. If you just want to get the general idea of a passage, online translation tools work great. However, if you're translating with the intent of communicating clearly and seamlessly across languages, these tools just don't get it done.

Real, Human Translation: Precise and Nuanced

Online translation tools frequently can't handle nuanced communication techniques, including idiomatic expressions, irony, and cultural references. For those, you need a live, human translator, like those we use at inWhatLanguage. A skilled human translator brings in a true, native mastery of the translating language, as well as the kind of cultural immersion and understanding that a translation application can never have. That means that live translation by humans can be done within the context of the subject matter and the culture of the intended audience.

Automatic Translation vs. Live Translation -- Who Wins?

In the end, it all comes down to what it is you're looking for. If you just need to translate a few words or sentences and the quality of the translation isn't a big deal, an automated online translation will work just fine. If you want to translate something in a way that reflects the work that went into creating the original, you should opt for a live, human translation. The good news is that while live translation isn't free, it's still surprisingly affordable and fast. At inWhatLanguage we've earned a reputation for providing high-quality translation at affordable rates. Give us a try today, and see the difference a human translation can make!

inWhatLanguage translators: the right profile for the right agency

Photo: Pete Souza, The White House

Celebration time for inWhatLanguage! As many of you know, we recently were selected to translate the Sunnylands websitefor meetings between President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping. It is such an honor to be able to work on such an amazing project, with such distinguished personalities, and to hold such a responsibility with global diplomacy.

Once again, it is clear that inWhatLanguage, as a translation agency, is growing at a dizzying speed. Not only we are expanding all over the US, but our base of clients is turning into a real hall of fame.

We also keep receiving resumes and questions from talented translators who want to be part of all this. So I figured that it was time to give some basic pointers to our dear potential linguists to show what we appreciate the most in our employees. Because yes, obviously, being native in one language and fluent in a second one is a must, but it is not all; it is merely the beginning. A translator in inWhatLanguage…

• Must have good writing skills. A linguist who doesn’t know how to write well is like a genius hacker not able to afford a computer: it is just as basic as speaking the languages you are working with. Our clients demand quality, and that sometimes doesn’t mean literal translations, but translations adapted to regionalized languages and rewritten in a way that doesn’t show that they’ve been translated. That requires a knack for writing. And that is what a translation agency like ours needs.
• ·        Must be reliable. Sometimes we receive projects at the last minute, and we need to know that we will be able to find you if we need you at any time (unless you are on holidays, which you are perfectly entitled to). A person who says she/he’s going to be there today but is not sure about tomorrow could be a burden on a company whose main aim is to be able to provide high-quality translation services for our clients anytime, anywhere.
• ·        Must be thorough. Again, this shows especially clearly when it comes to rushed translation. Speed is great, obviously, but it doesn’t do any good if it comes with sloppy work. If you know that you need time to do things right, don’t be shy to say so. We’d rather have quality than extra fast delivery.
• ·        Must be open to learn new things. We live during times when the world, and our industry, keep changing every day due to technological advances, politics and globalization. There is absolutely no reason to be afraid of trying new ways of translating, or to learn how to handle new software. Quite the contrary: it’s really exciting stuff! And we are all there to help you walk this path. We are a family!
• ·        Must be part of it. Of our family. The team at iWL prides itself in the fact that it’s composed of good, friendly people who love languages, help each other and the clients whenever it’s needed, and generally have fun doing what we do. Our job is not an obligation: it’s a pleasure, because we work with that which we love the most, and we contribute to society in many great ways… And we get money out of it! What’s not to be happy about?

The Rubber Ducky Derby: Memories to last a lifetime

The Make-A-Wish Foundation’s Rubber Ducky Derby came and went way too fast, but the memories will stay with us forever. inWhatLanguage is enormously proud to have been able to participate and contribute with this wonderful cause – and not only that, we also got some awesome pics out of it!Rachel in good company!

“It was an honor to be part of such a wonderful organization that is dedicated to helping children. There was a lot of effort involved to make the event happen, but it was all worth it when you got to see the smiles on so many of the kids faces,” says inWhatLanguage CEO Cody Broderick.

Thank you to all of the people who made this possible!!

From left to right: iWL team members Rachel Villaverde, Cody Broderick and Ty Palmer.

iWL CEO Cody Broderick proving his might!