Happy Easter with inWhatLanguage!

Happy Easter to all!

In many parts of the world, these days are days of celebration – most of them, with a heavy religious meaning. In Christian culture, it is a holiday that  celebrates the resurrection of Christ from the dead; it is also the time for the Jewish festival of Passover, that commemorates the  story of the Exodus as described in the Hebrew Bible especially in the Book of Exodus, in which the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt.

The original Hebrew word for Passover, “Pessach”, is the root of the name of these celebrations in most European countries: Pâques in France, Pasqua in Italian, Pascua in Spanish, Pasen in Dutch, Påske in Danish or Paskha Russian – as we can learn in this article from the Language Portal of Canada.

This, however, raises the question: why is the word “Easter” so different? And if we keep on reading the article mentioned above, we can eventually find out that the answer is that “Easter” doesn’t refer so much to the religious meaning of these days, but rather to the arrival of the Spring season:

The most popular theory is reflected in the entry for Easter in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary: the Old English word eastre came "apparently from Eostre, a goddess associated with spring."

Spring is a wonderful season to broaden one’s horizons and see the world, and to do so you can count on one of the best translation and interpretation agencies out there: inWhatLanguage. Our services are available any time, any place – we are just one phone call or email away. Our linguist are qualified, flexible and always ready to accommodate to your demands.

Trust us with your translation and transcription needs, take that big load off your shoulders and indulge yourself with a well-deserved Spring break – we will take care of the rest.

And just in case you decide to travel abroad during Easter, here is a little useful lesson: a video where you will learn how to say “Happy Easter” in ten languages!

Character limitation in software translation: quite the toughie!

In the world of video captioning, website and software translation, the concept of literal translation is definitely obsolete.

Since its origins, quality translation has been focusing more on juggling words and cracking grammar in both the source and target languages to make the resulting text comprehensible, coherent and easy to read. An ideally translated text must be fluid, and the reader should not even notice that it is not in fact the originally written text. In order to achieve this, a translator must oftentimes sacrifice literalness in favor of legibility.

Nowadays, technology has introduced a further complication into the matter: character limitation. Especially when it comes to video subtitles and website translation, this issue can become a big problem when we are translating from certain languages. “English and Chinese text is typically very compact, and text translated from these languages will typically be longer in the translation than the original – sometimes to an alarming degree,” explains this article on W3C Internationalization. The article goes on to show how a simple translation from English to Italian, for instance, can reach a size 300% bigger than the original text.

This, of course, gets even more complicated when we throw more requisites into the mix, like localization. iWL linguist Josh Gonzalez has experience in this matter. Among the projects he has in his portfolio there is one that had to deal with a video game translation. Definitely a fun project for Gonzalez, who proclaims that gaming is one of his “personal passions”. But also quite the experience: the translation included tight character limitations and localization requisites that applied to all Spanish-speaking Latin-American countries.  “It required extra neutrality, since it was directed at many countries. The biggest challenge was, however, the character limitation,” explains Gonzalez. “Due to programming barriers, I couldn’t focus as much on localization as I did on adjusting to the maximum amount of words I could fit on screen.”

Josh Gonzalez compares this challenge to that of video captioning, in the sense that in this service, a translator must also be able to fit a certain number of characters on a screen. But in this case, that limitation can be sorted out by simply dividing the text into several parts, always trying to make it as easy to read as possible.

The fact that neutrality was a very important factor for this particular translation made the job all the more complicated for Josh Gonzalez: “I had to be careful with rephrasing the text, since a word that sounds natural to me could not be understood in other Latin-American countries.  The screen space was so limited that I had to use abbreviations every now and then. While definitely not an ideal option, the client understood that there was simply no other option”.

But Josh Gonzalez was up to the task. Thanks to his friends from all over South America, who helped him come up with a final version that could be easily understood throughout the region despite language differences, he managed to overcome the difficulties. “I’m happy that I had the chance to live through that experience. Nowadays it helps me when I have to do a subtitling project and I have to make sure that everything fits perfectly on a screen”.

There is definitely no ultimate formula to deal with character limitation in software translation, but there are some key factors that we can extract from the case of Josh Gonzalez: careful deliberation, in-depth research and communication with the client are essential. Only through such a process can we come up with a high-quality translation that will feel natural to the readers (and gamers!).

And even though translation is definitely no game, there is no harm in having fun on the job!

inWhatLanguage helps improve the lives of orphan children in Haiti

For more than a year, inWhatLanguage has shown on many occasions its willingness to help people in need with many initiatives, such as the Rubber Ducky Derby, our investment in bilingual schools or our past Christmas Campaign. We feel extremely blessed to have a company that grows daily and where people are immensely capable and hard-working, and we are excited to use our growth as launch pad and an opportunity to make other’s lives also a little better through any means necessary.

So much so, that from now on we want to make charity initiatives a regular feature of our activity schedule! You can check up on our latest actions here, in the inWhatLanguage blog, of course, but you can also subscribe to our monthly inWhatLanguage Cares Newsletter and always be up to date. We are also open to suggestions and we hope to hear from you via Facebook, Twitter or Google+!

To kick things off, this month the iWL team went shopping. On the 23rd of March we went out and got all sorts of diverse stuff, from clothes to basic toiletries, in order to put it all in a big suitcase and send it to an orphanage in Haiti! Lots of kids there will be able to benefit from the things we got, and also the team had a great time – clearly, it’s a win-win situation.

“This shopping trip for the orphanage in Haiti was an incredible experience for us,” says iWL Office Manager Erin Millet. “The entire iWL core team was up for it. The shopping trip was very humble. It was pretty amazing to look at things that we take for granted, like shampoo, and realize that it is not a necessity for the kids in Haiti. They will use a bar of soap from their head down to their toes - shampoo is a luxury for them.”

The team entrusted the suitcase with all the purchased items to Liz, an experienced organizer of trade missions to Haiti. “The details Liz was able to share with us about the trade missions was exciting for us to hear,” Erin continues. “They teach the Haitian people how to build and provide water for themselves among other skills. That, to me, is the basis of service - providing knowledge instead of doing it for them.”

Communication, and the sharing of knowledge, is key for inWhatLanguage. That is, after all, the ultimate goal of a translation: to be able to communicate messages across borders, and share notions and ideas to make them universal. Hopefully, the idea of sharing wealth and helping those in need will also become universal little by little – and we plan to make our contribution as often as possible.

It is certainly a plus the fact that the iWL team not only goes out of its way to help others, but also has a really fun time during these occasions, according to Erin: “We went to lunch as a team and we were able to talk through our experience with one other and also get to know each other a little better. We, as a team, have such a wide variety of skills that work well together. It is so exciting to be part of the iWL family!”

Here are some pictures of the day:

The team, ready to go! From left to right: Erin Millet, Ty Palmer, Brian Palmer, Cody Broderick, Richard Bennett, Veronica Johnson, Maurice van Zutphen.	Discussing what to get... Front left to right: Erin Millet, Richard Bennett, Brian Palmer,Veronica Johnson, Ty Palmer and Maurice van Zutphen.
The shopping's done! Left to right: Erin Millet, Richard Bennett, Maurice van Zutphen, Vanessa Broderick, Cody Broderick, Veronica Johnson, Natalie Herrera, Brian Palmer and Ty Palmer.	Everything must be properly wrapped! From left to right, Richard Bennett, Maurice van Zutphen and Brian Palmer.
A suitcase put to good use! There are toothbrushes and sweets (an "oxymoron", according to our dear Office Manager Erin Millet), among many other things.	After the shopping trip, the team took advantage of the occasion to take a break and get to know each other better. From left to right: Brian Palmer, Vanessa Broderick, Erin Millet, Veronica Johnson, Ty Palmer, Richard Bennett and Maurice van Zutphen.

French localization services: iWL, ready for the future

This week, a study done by Frenchinvestment bank Natixis projected that there will be 750 million French speakers by the year 2050, making French effectively the most spoken language in less than 40 years. While the study has a couple of flaws, like not taking into account the language diversity in many countries where French is the official language and just counting their entire population as French speakers nonetheless, the fact that “it is the language of areas with population booms, particularly sub-Saharan Africa,” as the study points out, is undeniable.

It is also undeniable that French is widely spoken right now, and by widely I mean not only the number of French speakers, but also the variety and nuances one can find in the French spoken in different parts of the world. Let me illustrate this with this video about the differences between French in Canada and in France:

Right now, French is the ninth most spoken language in the world, and considering its spread around the world, its rapid growth, and the diverse uses of the language in the different French-speaking countries, offering high-quality translation services that can accommodate all of these nations’ particularities while keeping up with the rising demand is a tall order.

Fortunately, inWhatLanguage is up to the task. And the keyword for this is localization.

Localization is the full and complete customization of content for a specific language, dialect, idioms, and cultural context of the intended audience. Even if both cultures speak the same language, that doesn't guarantee that they use the same context to interpret linguistic content. By localizing content, you make sure that the true intended message shines through, without any of the embarrassing miscommunications that can happen when a literal French translation isn't quite enough.

In iWL, we take extra care to make sure that the work we do for our clients is properly localized to the cultural context of the intended audience. That way, you can rest assured knowing that your audience will fully grasp the intended meaning of the localized content we translate into French for you.

And also, this way we are also prepared for the future. A future where, regardless of whether French, Chinese, Malay or Urdu is the most spoken language, inWhatLanguage will be able to provide help for whoever needs their words to reach communities where other languages are spoken. Just try us!

inWhatLanguage on the radio!

“Video killed the radio star”, goes the song. Well, not for us. Because inWhatLanguage has already released some cool videos in the past, and now it’s time to step into the world of radio waves!

Next Wednesday, March 26th, inWhatLanguage is going to be on the radio! You can listen to a cool featured piece with an interview featuring our dear CEO, Cody Broderick, talking about the company, our services, our goals and our plans for the future. Don’t miss it – it will be fun!

If you are a Utah resident, you can listen to it live between 7-8 a.m. and 5-6 p.m. on the following radio stations, depending on your location at the time of the broadcast:

Cedar City                          KSUB 590 AM

Logan                                  KVNU 610 AM

Moab                                  KCYN 97.1 FM

Monticello                           KBDX 92.7 FM

Richfield                              KVSC 980 AM

       KWUT 97.7 FM

Price                                   KUSA 100 FM

St. George                           KDXU 890 AM

Vernal                                 KVEL 920 AM

      KLCY 105.5 FM

 If you are in Wasatch Front, the broadcast will be at 7:23 a.m., 11:47 a.m. and 5:23 p.m. on KSL 102.7 and FM, 1160 AM, and in Manti, between 8-9 a.m. and 5-6 p.m. on KMTI 650 AM.

Of course, as an international company with a global reach and hundreds of translators all over the world, we understand that there might be some people beyond the state of Utah who would want to listen to the broadcast, too. Well, no need to worry! You will also get the chance to listen to it online on the zionsbank official website, as well as on ksl.com.

Thank you so much for trusting us with your translation needs, and let us keep growing everyday together – but always keeping our main trademark: low-cost, high quality translations, with fast turnaround times and a commitment to relationship and customer service.

Because that is what makes inWhatLanguage a trust-worthy translation agency that is slowly but steadily turning into a favorite partner for more and more prestigious global companies every day.

IWL and the web: a winner combination for many years to come

It seems unbelievable, but the web, that little tool that nowadays we use practically for everything –from looking up word meanings to booking flights, from keeping up with friends to buying extremely rare items- is only 25 years old. As you can read in this articlefrom The Independent, a young computer engineer named Tim Berners-Lee working in a physics lab in Switzerland submitted a paper titled “Information Management: A Proposal” twenty five years ago. In this paper, he introduced to the world for the first time the HTML language and the HTTP Protocol, both of which are the base for anything that we check in our internet browsers.

This week marked the web’s 25th anniversary, and on this occasion, inWhatLanguage took a look back at its own history as well.

iWL is, after all, a young, internet-based company: our incredible versatility and worldwide reach comes from the fact that we use the web to offer our translation services, contact our clients and deliver high quality, affordable translations. This allows us to save on time and logistics costs and adapt to the current trends as fast as the times demand it, thus making us a reliable source for good translations wherever you are, whenever you need them.

Our website has evolved greatly as well, offering not only more services, like interpretation, web translation, transcription or multimedia services, but also a much easier interface and a very attractive design. We have also entered the massive world of Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+, a great way to reach millions of people who might be interested in our services. Our communities keep growing every day with lots of awesome new users interested in translation, languages and current related news.

And we don’t plan on stopping there: from now on, we will continue to work harder to be more interactive and to provide our clients with more options to make collaborations even more enjoyable.

After all, our objective hasn't changed in all of these years: “Building a long-term, growing, sustainable company where people love the culture and we remain a top choice for global organizations based on our value proposition:  low-cost, high quality translations, with fast turnaround times and a commitment to relationship and customer service,” in the words of inWhatLanguage CEO, Cody Broderick.

The web, our dear 25-year-old web, has suit our purposes beautifully up till now. And we are sure that our beautiful journey together will continue for many more years to come. Congratulations!

Women and their mark in translation

Happy International Women’s Day! On this day, March 8th, the team at inWhatLanguage wants one more time to express our most sincere thanks to all of our awesome female employees and translators, as well as all those women who support us with their trust and patronage. While we naturally appreciate the work of all of our team members, male and female alike, today we take advantage of the occasion to tip the scale of our affection towards the women’s side… Because they are worth it.

The history of language and, by default, translation, has been traditionally led by men. More often than not, women unfortunately didn’t have the chance to make a difference. Seeing the important role they play nowadays in the field of translation, as we in inWhatLanguage have the pleasure to experience every day, one has to wonder how would things have turned out in this day and age, if women were given a bigger role in the history of language and translation.

La Malinche, as part of the Monumento
al Mestizaje in Mexico City

However, the fact that women were not as prominent as men in the history of translation doesn’t mean that they were inactive in its development. Take La Malinche, or Doña Marina as she is also known (1496 or c. 1501 – c. 1529), for instance. She is undoubtedly one of the earliest examples of an interpreter, be it woman or man. Doña Marina was a Nahua woman from the Mexican Gulf Coast, who acted as an interpreter, advisor, lover, and intermediary for Hernán Cortés. She was one of twenty women slaves given to the Spaniards by the natives of Tabasco in 1519. With her language skills, she was able to discover a plot by the natives to attack the Spanish army. She alerted Cortés, and thus the Spanish army avoided the ambush. She also had a very important role in the Conquest of Mexico.

Elizabeth F Ellet
(1818–1877)

There are many other women who have made their mark on the history of language and translation. Take American writer Elizabeth F Ellet (1818–1877), who started translating Italian poet Silvio Pellico’s Works when she was 16, and ended being the first writer to record the lives of women who contributed to the American Revolutionary War. Or German-American writer Mildred Fish-Harnack (1902 –1943), who after moving to Germany from America in 1929, wrote and translated books and document from English to German and vice versa despite the restrictions imposed by the Nazi regime until her arrest and untimely death.

Mildred Fish-Harnack
(1902 –1943)

There have been many women whose lives have made a difference on the history of translation. Check out this website where you can actually browse a list of famous female translators throughout history. And the greatest thing is that the list will continue to grow, and we, at inWhatLanguage, are in a privileged position that allows us to see so many amazing women doing their best to elevate translation and interpretation to an art.

Congratulations to all of you, our dear female translators. You truly deserve it.