Angry Birds shows the strategic benefits of Software Localization

Angry birds

How did angry birds become so popular?

Software localization is becoming an increasingly useful way to help an existing software product reach new markets. The fast moving smart phone application market is a key case in point. The ability to localize smart phone software to other languages can help to increase sales with minimal investment.

There are two aspects supporting this claim. First of all, most of us prefer using software in our own language, or if that is not available, then in English. Secondly, smart phone applications are usually very small and thus cheap and fast to translate, especially with a modern localization tool.

Unfortunately the ease of the translation and the temptation to get a share in the multi billion markets make the competition in the major language areas tough. In a situation like this, the strategy matters. Only a few have so far realized how successful sales campaigns in small language areas can be used to increase sales in bigger language markets.

The Finnish software company Rovio did this during the marketing process of its super famous Angry Birds game. The popular game was on the market for a long period of time, and did not achieve overnight success. It was only once the game was featured as Apple’s game of the week that the floodgates opened. But it was the campaign undertaken to help convince Apple to promote the application that was the key to its success.

Angry Birds’ first successes were in small, local markets such as Finland, Czech Republic, Sweden and Denmark. It was relatively easy to achieve top positions in these markets because there were fewer applications to compete with. The experience in those markets showed that Angry Birds was very profitable and had a great potential. Without this experience it would not have been possible to make a deal with Apple which got them from the 600th place to the first in the UK App Store.

Thus by localizing software for minor-language markets you can build a strategic advantage that will help you in winning the major-language markets. And at the same time you can increase your sales with minimal investment!

This article is written by localization specialists at Multilizer. Since 1996, Multilizer has been developing innovative software localization tools for all kind of localization needs. The extensive experience in the industry and the passion for localization and translation make Multilizer one of the leading localization and translation technology experts. Today its clientèle includes companies like IBM, GE, Nokia, ABB, and Intel.

Translators without Borders and the Horn of Africa crisis

Translators without borders logo

Lori Thicke is the founder of Translators without Borders, the US-based charity that assists in translating more than two million words, each year, for NGOs such as Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders), Médecins du Monde, Action Against Hunger, Oxfam US and Handicap International.

There has been an overwhelming response from the public regarding the recent drought crisis in the Horn of Africa with the British public alone donating over £42 million. However, my charity organization, Translators without Borders, is warning that lack of access to knowledge in local languages is significantly hampering the administration of medical aid and making it more likely that crises like this one will continue to happen.

It is estimated that there are around 10 million people in the Horn of Africa (Source: UN World Food Programme) desperately in need of medical supplies and food. Funds are needed, but what isn’t on the radar of this crisis is that translation is critical for aid workers in the region to be able to communicate with the people they are helping.

People in situations like this often can’t understand instructions and other important information because they don’t speak English. Aid workers must provide on the spot interpreting, regardless of their language skills. This lessens the effectiveness of relief efforts. Also, by denying people full access to information in areas like health, technology and agricultural best practices, the lack of translation also keeps people from benefiting from global knowledge, which makes them more vulnerable to crises.

Translation is often a forgotten element of humanitarian work, yet it is essential for communication, whether between Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and their international staff, or between the staff and the people they are caring for. Translators without Borders is working with NGOs and ministries of health in the Horn of Africa to help combat this very problem. The first language we are concentrating on is Swahili, the Lingua Franca of Africa that is spoken by around 100 million people in this hard-hit region.

The odds are greatly stacked against Africa, which accounts for around 25% of the world’s disease burden, yet only has 3% of the world’s medical resources. To make matters worse a significant amount of the information that comes with the supplies available is written for the Western world. Situations such as the drought affecting Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia bring these issues into acute focus.

In light of the crisis, our main aim is to bridge the knowledge gap for locals using volunteer translators; if we can contribute to a better informed generation, prevent mothers from dying during childbirth and help people to help themselves, this will alleviate problems in the future.

Translators without Borders helps NGOs in two ways. By calling on our volunteers to carry out the translations necessary for their humanitarian interventions, organisations such as Oxfam can use funds in other areas. Typically operations such as the Horn of Africa would need around $3 million to translate texts into various languages so they can be understood by international staff as well as the local people they are helping, not to mention by the donors who are funding these operations. Our goal is to eliminate as much as we can of these costs because every dollar saved is another dollar that can be spent caring for people in the field.

Translation into local languages is more important than ever as technology today is giving us the means of delivering information into the hands of those who need it most. For the first time in history more Africans have access to a cellphone than have access to shoes or clean water. Vast stores of knowledge can finally reach nearly everyone on this planet. Translation is the final keystone to the bridge we need to build to unlock that knowledge so it can do some good.

Translators without Borders is appealing to the international community for help, either through providing translation skills or by donating money to support our work. Please visit http://translatorswithoutborders.com/ for further information. In addition, we welcome enquiries from NGOs who need translation support.

 

Observing Japanese culture

Sushi rolls

Sushi is often associated with Japanese culture

The Japanese are well mannered people. You can even call them perfectionists, as most of their ways help get the best out of life. Japanese people have a set of rules for almost everything they do, and they follow these rules obediently. This article focuses on the set of rules which are observed while eating and drinking. If you are in Japan, following these rules (even if not properly) would be highly appreciated by the locals.

There is a basic set of rules which are to be observed in all cases. These are table manners, most of which are observed in other parts of the world as well. For example, burping loud is considered very bad manners in Japan. If you burp in a public place, people will stare at you as if you killed someone. Japanese like to observe silence while eating and any kind of noise is considered bad. Talking is allowed but only if it is at a volume which does not disturb others. Talking about unwanted topics is forbidden, topics related to the washroom or something similarly disgusting should not be discussed, especially when you are at a public restaurant. Indulging in disgusting acts, such as picking or blowing your nose, also shows a lack of etiquettes.

Here in Japan, before you start eating you are supposed to say “itadakimasu,” which means I accept. When you are finished you should say “gochisosama” which means thank you for the meal. When you are done eating, you should put everything back in place where they were before you started eating. This is especially observed in case one used chopsticks, they are supposed to be put back into their paper covers and back on the holder.

Now let’s come to the meals. Almost every Japanese cuisine requires using chopsticks, and with that comes a set of rules. First off, we will discuss the don’ts. Do not eat from the serving chopsticks, it is considered as an act of illiteracy. The chopstick should not be used as a fork, the Japanese offer food to the dead this way.
Do not use chopsticks to pass and accept food as bones of a cremated body are passed like this. Do not use chopsticks for any other purpose except eating.
Grab the chopsticks in one hand, align them parallel with the other hand and then adjust the first hand. Now you are holding chopsticks the proper way.
When you order a dish that is served with chopsticks, put it in your plate and eat it using your own chopsticks. Hold the item with the chopsticks and finish it off rather than putting it back on the plate. Women are required to put their other hand underneath the food while carrying it from the plate/bowl to their mouth.

If you are having a liquid meal, such as a soup or a rice dish, they should be served in bowls. While eating, lifting the bowl near you is considered polite. One should first finish the liquid and then eat the solid leftovers with a chopstick.
When we talk about drinking, again Japanese courtesy comes up. The server should offer others first rather than pouring it himself/herself. The server should occasionally check other people and fill them up as soon as needed. You should empty the glass as soon as possible if someone wants to serve you.

About the author

Over the last 3 years, Andrew has learnt the subtle and fascinating manners of the Japanese culture. When he is not sharing his passion for Japan, Andrew provides training on how to properly use sushi makers and especially nigiri machine

Did I just say that? Language mistakes

Girl with covered mouth

Making language mistakes is no excuse to not try.


Caution:
This post and its comments contain themes of an adult nature, although at the time not intentional. This is purely to illustrate how despite slips of the tongue and language barriers, you can still convey meaning in another language.

One of my proudest moments, despite feeling very ashamed of my parents behaviour at the time, was on holiday in Majorca. My parents wanted tea with milk, but the lady serving didn’t speak a word of English. She grasped that they wanted tea but didn’t understand ‘with milk’. So (red face memory), they started mooing like a cow and role-playing the milking of udders.

To end the horrendous experience I shouted out “té con leche”, which immediately remedied the situation and stopped the poor lady calling the police.

My point in this case is that a bit of ’swotting up’ on basic terms in the local language before visiting the country can go a long way. Surely getting a bit of pronunciation wrong would be far less embarrassing than this little anecdote?

There are plenty of examples of language mistakes, and even though I have fallen victim to odd mistake, I never fail to chuckle when I read about them. My personal favourite was when I was at school; a friend had a German exchange student staying at her house. We were all innocently laughing at something she had done when she told us all to “stop pissing on her!” This only added to the hilarity but we all knew that she was trying to say ‘stop taking the mickey’.

I’m pretty sure this term only exists in English and has no German translation equivalent, so for her to even attempt it was pretty brave. And one thing is for certain, her English is far better than my German, so who am I to point the finger?

There are also other examples of English phrases which don’t carry the same meaning when translated into another language; the best example I heard recently was Justin Timberlake’s film “Friends with benefits.” When the previews hit France the film’s title did not mean anything to the French public, so it was marketed as “Sexe entre amis”, literally meaning “sex friends”, not exactly subtle.

I’m sure these instances occur in every language on a regular basis. I know when I attempt to speak abroad I’m always getting my gender references mixed up. In fact I’m willing to hold my hands up and say half the time I don’t even know so I guess – there’s a 50% chance either way right? Or I say it in such a way so that it’s not completely clear what I’ve said but emphasized what I deem to be the key indicators. Not ideal, but it conveys meaning.

I’m hoping I’m not the only person who is willing to share my experiences, personal or otherwise. If you’ve got a cringe worthy story you’re dying to get off your chest please feel free to console me by leaving a little piece of you in the comments box below. I look forward to reading them :)

The lengths people will go to – language learning

Language tongue

Do you have a tongue for languages?

Anyone who’s ever tried to learn a new language can probably admit to having got a bit tongue tied once in a while, but a recent story took the meaning to a whole new level.  An English A level student has had an operation to lengthen her tongue, enabling her to improve her pronunciation of the Korean language, and her ability to speak like a native.  The student, who is 19 and from Nottinghamshire,  had a particularly short tongue which meant she could not make the distinctive L sound that is present in certain Korean words.

This got me thinking; cosmetic surgery has been used now for many years by people in their quest for the beautiful body, but are we now getting so obsessed with perfection that speech impediments will be treated in the same way?

I would like to think that, along with people’s physical features, the way we speak is part of our individuality. I can name many famous people whose defining feature is a speech impediment; Jonathan Ross, Chris Eubank and King George V. These examples only extend to the English speaking world but I am sure there are many other celebrities with the same nuances in most languages and cultures.

I am also aware that different languages sometimes require you to make certain phonetic noises that you are not used to making in your mother tongue, for example at school learning Spanish was a particular issue for me, because I cannot roll my R’s. I’ve tried many times and failed every time, but I’m sure if I had been brought up with Spanish as my primary language it would never have been a problem. However,for arguments sake, if I still couldn’t I’m sure this would not be detrimental to making myself understood.

So in a round about way, this brings me to a common thread that runs throughout my blogs which is, how well do you need to speak a foreign language? I’m often fascinated by the lack of enthusiasm from the British public to learn a language, but this example just takes it too far the other way. In my opinion, just the willingness to try and converse in a foreign language would impress a national of the host country enough without needing to be word or sound perfect.

Two kiss or not two kiss? That is the question.

Yet another international business etiquette conundrum.

My sister is lucky enough to have left the rain-soaked UK and moved to the much more pleasing climate of Toulouse in the South West of France. One year into her exciting new life and she has secured a great job but has encountered a rather large cultural hurdle that she has struggled to overcome, despite being fluent in French.

There are blogs-a-plenty out there regarding international business etiquette covering things like handshakes, eye contact, business cards, dining with clients and other cultural differences that need to be taken into account when doing business in other countries.  However, there isn’t an awful lot in the public domain about how and when you should “bisou” (kiss) a colleague.

In the UK and the US a handshake is reserved for first introductions or contacts that you meet infrequently. It isn’t something that tends to be used with people that you see every day in the office and a simple “good morning” will usually suffice.

So, imagine you’re suddenly in a professional environment where colleagues greet each other in meetings with a kiss on each cheek. Now, this seems simple enough; you watch what other people are doing and replicate, right?  Wrong.

Even world leaders get it wrong.

It seems that there are some people you kiss and some you do not. There are some that everyone in the room kisses but that you don’t know well enough to, so they recoil in horror at your over familiar gesture.  Then, when your handshake is met with someone leaning in to bisou you, imagine the offence you may have caused with your cold, formal, British greeting.

My sister obviously did what any sensible person would do. She asked her French friends what the “rules” are.  It soon became clear that this approach wasn’t going to be particularly helpful however. Some said it was unusual to kiss in a working environment and had never come across this during their careers in France, while others got into huge debate around what that rules are. I decided to help her by asking a French intern at my UK workplace who was equally baffled and couldn’t provide a clear answer. The results of our combined market research into the rules of this element of business communication….there are no rules.

At first she dreaded running the morning gauntlet, filled with fear around who she was going to offend on that particular day with her clumsy British salutations. However, time has passed and she is getting the hang of it, based on getting to know the individuals, following their lead and not worrying as much about getting things wrong occasionally.

I am sure that nobody was genuinely offended in those initial months in the new job. However, it would be interesting to know if anybody has encountered similar confusion and if, hidden away somewhere, there are concrete rules to help us Brits fit in more quickly in the rest of Europe!

Are we right to expect foreigners to speak English when in England?

Tevez MCFC shirt

Should footballers like Tevez be ambassadors for breaking down language barriers?

As a lifelong Manchester City fan, with fond childhood memories of Maine Road, and living through the biggest revolution our club has experienced in its history, one of the main topics of conversation in the pubs, at the ground, on the message boards and on the phone-ins is the enigma of Carlos Tevez. The Manchester City talisman, who wants for nothing and is adored by many, is trying harder than Ronnie Biggs to escape the UK, back to South America. Tevez has said that he hasn’t settled in the UK and has no social outlet, but a conversation that repeatedly comes up is the lack of English spoken by the Argentinian.

Tevez moved to England five years ago and during that time his inability (or stubbornness) around learning , English has increasingly come under scrutiny.

Many football fans believe that after this period of time it shows a lack of respect that someone has such a disinterest at speaking the local lingo. However, my question is, why should he have to? A recent piece in The Telegraph “Britons look for ‘home comforts’ when abroad” made me think about Brittish attitudes toward foreign languages and I think it would be fair to say that, compared to the rest of Europe, Britons are severely lacking in multilingual skills. So does this really give the general public room to criticise?

It is not just UK holiday makers that fail to make the effort – this article in The Guardian (http:// www.guardian.co.uk/media/mind-your-language/2011/apr/11/mind-your-language-expat-brits) raises many interesting points,, many of which I’m inclined to agree with. The article talks about the negativity surrounding the word immigration and how Brits living abroad refer to themselves as ‘Expats’, arguably an elitist terms to disassociate themselves from being immigrants; and how frequently these communities of ‘Expats’ rarely go to the trouble of learning the local language in any great detail.

With this in mind, can we really expect Carlos Tevez, a professional working in the UK but unlikely to settle – just like many UK nationals living abroad, to learn English? Should multilingual skills be part of the responsibility of being a highly paid role model for the community; to be an ambassador for breaking down international language barriers? Or should people in glass houses stop throwing stones?

Space exploration is a symbol of hope – in any language

Space exploration can unite the common goals of nations

Friday marked the last ever launch of the US Space Shuttle programme as Atlantis set off from Cape Canaveral. Over the course of the historic 35 year programme these invaluable missions have captured the imagination of the world, taught us so much, and have paved the way for future exploration of our galaxy.

During this time, the world has also changed drastically, as globalisation has been accelerated by advances in technology and travel and the thawing of the Cold War, which have broken down international boundaries and made cultural integration easier and more accepted in many parts of the world.

One of the biggest barriers that remains however is language, and although advances in language technology tools, including machine translation, are steadily breaking down the walls, the level of communication that can lead to the successful transfer of knowledge and ideas across language and cultural divides can sometimes be elusive. As the US draws back the scale of its space adventures for at least a decade, the opportunity is there for the Chinese to take the next step and it would be good to see East and West work together on a shared goal.

The Chinese language is becoming ever more important from an economic perspective and the global business community is acutely aware that being able to communicate and work collaboratively with Chinese colleagues and competitors will be critical to economic growth.

Similarly, space exploration should no longer be a competition between two worlds of different ideologies as a show of strength, but as a collaboration between nations of every race and belief to help benefit future generations of mankind on our own fragile planet.

How the international language barrier is affecting the financial services sector

Currency from around the world

The language of money

Despite many of the world’s banks and financial institutions operating on an international scale every day, more and more reports are showing that the language barrier remains one of the key factors negatively affecting the financial services sector. As multiculturalism flourishes, banks face losing customers, and individuals cannot protect their money as language difficulties prevent effective communication.

The language barrier

People decide not to use banks for a wide range of different reasons. Some people may feel that they don’t need to hold an account or require financial services, others may have suffered bad experiences such as of mishandled account and overdraft fees, in addition with monthly maintenance fees, or problem with the minimum balance. All of these can result from language barriers.

For example, in the United States, there are twenty-three million Americans who do not use English as their primary language. Although there are extensive federal and state language access laws, there is lack of proper and comprehensive implementation within banking institutions, and the poor enforcement of the laws leaves millions of people with limited English proficiency to suffer a much lower quality of financial services than those that can understand English.

In many businesses, the language barriers can have dire consequences. The negative effect on businesses usually starts with the cultural differences, which pose additional problems by creating misunderstandings in workplaces. Language barriers are a major cause of problems between the immigrant workers and the native ones.

Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that immigrants in situ make up around 15% of the labor force in the United States. More than half of these workers are from Latin America and almost a quarter from Asia. Amongst these, only about 40% can speak good English when they arrive in the U.S. Mostly, the western states are likely to see the largest increases in immigrants, followed by the south and the south eastern states. Immigrants will account for half of the growth in the country’s working-age population by the year 2015.

The problem of effective communication across the language barrier in banks is going to be with us for many years. Thought and action must be given now into how these problems can be solved to enable large numbers of people to benefit from better financial services.

This post was contributed by Jack Hudson

Are oui there yet?

WARNING: This blog contains pictures of very blistered feet. It’s not for the faint hearted, but then again neither is a 50 mile walk. If you are affected by any of the issues in this blog please donate to this very worthy cause, every penny counts towards improving the lives of disadvantaged children:  http://www.justgiving.com/Applied-Language-solutions

The ALS Megahike team

The ALS Megahike team looking spritely at 4am

On a very wet June evening, whilst others I know were celebrating Midsummer’s Eve, a team of 6 from ALS (Applied Language Solutions) rolled up to a camp site near to Hollingworth Lake for the MEGAHIKE 2011. A 50 mile hike across some of the toughest walking countryside the UK has to offer, The Pennines. With a wide range of both bleak and breath taking scenery, The Pennines really are the “backbone” of England stretching from Derbyshire to Scotland.
Our evening began with some superb navigational skills from one of our support team, who took us 5 miles out of the way of the camp site before agreeing to turn round. We arrived to an already damp rugby field where a smattering of canvas had already sprung out of the ground and chose our pitch, close enough to the Porto loos to be able to rush over in the middle of the night. While pitching our tents the heavens opened but fortunately we did manage to get 3 out of the 4 complete before it got too bad. After completion we hurried over to the check in room to register our arrival. Team 001, Are “Oui” There Yet, were now registered and ready to go.

Dinner was served, a healthy portion of pie, chips and mushy peas, followed by a cup of tea. For some reason not even the Leffe I had in the tent was that appealing at this point in time, although I did manage to start, but not finish, one bottle during the strategy discussions.

With check point strategies agreed and projected checkpoint walking times set, we attempted to get some sleep, it was still raining heavily.

After approximately 2 ½ hours sleep we were up again and preparing for the day ahead. 3am breakfast, 4am briefing and at 4.44am the walk began.

Nick and Kris

Nick and Kris in high spirits despite the rain

We were fortunate enough to be in the top 5 leaving the start zone and were determined not to lose this position on the first leg so pushed on quite hard. At Check Point (CP)1, Blackstone Edge Reservoir, team ALS (Are “oui” there yet) were in pole position and feeling strong. A quick pit stop and still soaking wet we set off in 2nd position (the 2nd placed team just ran straight through to take the lead) and headed towards CP2.

This section was a long and tough 12 mile stretch, and again we kept up a massive pace (just over 5mph), overtaking the leaders very early on and maintaining a good lead. A 5 minute stop on route for some of us to tape up a couple of blisters and we slipped back into 3rd place. Marching on we caught up with the leaders again and pretty much played cat and mouse for the remainder of this leg.

At CP2, Clough Hole Car Park, we were 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Our support crew were blissfully unaware of our pending arrival until, in panic, the saw us climbing the hill towards it.

We were now heading for a 14 hour 30 finish time giving us a ½ hour contingency on our previously arranged 15 hour target. The CP took a little longer than originally planned due to some blistered feet repairs for Kris and some re-taping of both mine and Larua’s. However upon setting off, now firmly in 3rd place we were still 20 mins ahead of schedule and up for a real challenge. The weather was still quite wet but the temperature was rising as were the clouds so we were hoping for a dryer spell to the next CP.

During this leg Kris was feeling the pain, not only in his muscles and joints but his blisters on his feet were causing him to believe that he was stepping on razor blades each time. And upon arrival at CP3 we had lost a little time but were still on track for the 15 hour mark.

CP3, The Ram Inn, was our major time loss area for the first half, on arrival we had covered 27 miles of rain soaked muddy terrain and Kris’s feet knew about it. We had lunch (our planned 20 mins) but Kris decided he needed to visit St John’s. After over 40 minutes of treatment it was very apparent that he wouldn’t be able to continue and sadly we pressed on without him.

The 15 hour target was now a memory but to beat the sun we had to complete it in 17 hours so we pushed on once more. Leaving CP3, despite the hour and 15 minute stop, we were still in 3rd position and we were determined to defend it. A quick glance over the shoulder proved to be the incentive we needed to push on again, the 4th placed team were on our heels. A power walk up the hill and great pace on the up hill road section secured a commanding lead over them once again and we were well on our way to CP4 at Waterfoot.

Nick's poorly feet

Proof that a 50 mile trek is no walk in the park. Poor Nick, surely this effort deserves a charitable donation!?

Oh the pain!!!!! Poor Nick had used CP3 as a final sock change and unfortunately used relatively cheap sport socks to change into. He paid the price dearly. A misleading way marker caused us to endure a 2.5 mile detour and arrival at CP4, albeit still in 3rd position was the low point of the day.

45 minutes after arrival Nick’s feet had been tape up and we set off to complete the remaining 16 miles. 10 paces down the track and Nick admitted defeat and had to retire through injury. So Laura and I had to have a very difficult conversation with the marshals who eventually allowed us to chase down the teams in front of us so that we could join them for the final legs. (Although being able to finish as a team of two for safety reasons you have to merge with another team). Laura and I now had a daunting task ahead of us; we had just 6 miles to make up at least 11 minutes on the two teams in front of us on the hardest leg of the whole walk. The first 1 ½ miles were just purely up hill, followed by a quarry gully and we had no idea how far ahead the other teams were. When we emerged out of the quarry and approached the next slight hill, we saw an orange back pack. This gave us even more determination to power on and we picked up the pace even more. A few steps more and a second team appeared in view but they were even closer than the first…. we’d done it. All we had to do now was catch them both before the safety point. After a 10 minute speed march of nearing 6mph, Laura and I had caught both teams and arranged to be able to join them to go through the final check points. The next few miles to the finish line were obviously going to be a lot slower than Laura and I were used to but we were so pleased that they had agreed for us to join them.

CP5 at Watergrove Reservoir to the finish line was awesome, Steve, a member of our surrogate team, was hurting badly but we all took turns to pull him along and by 18 hours and 28 minute our mission was complete.

Joint 3rd place for Are “oui” there yet and a well earned beer.

Next year…. Sub 15 hours for sure :)