Emma | May 16, 2011
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Pet sounds

A pod of Sperm whales

"Got to my mickey, found me way up the apples, put on me whistle and the bloody dog went. It was me trouble telling me to fetch the teapots."

When we talk about accents and regional dialects we automatically think about Geordie, Scouse, Manc and Cockney to name but a few, but what if I threw Sperm Whale into the mix?

According to research carried out by a PhD student at Dalhousie University in Canada, Sperm Whales use different phrases and dialects to communicate, much like humans.

We all know that animals communicate with each other but it had never occurred to me that a dog in England would have trouble understanding what a dog in Spain was barking about, so this research got me thinking.

I remember a story about a lady whose friend passed away and she took ownership of her dog. At first she thought the dog was deaf. It wasn’t until she took it to the vet that it occurred to her that the mother tongue of the previous owner was not English; the dog wasn’t deaf, it just couldn’t understand her! Then there was the dog that spoke Polish…

Anyway, I digress.  I found it interesting that, according to the research findings, whales are able to identify which member of the family is speaking based on the way they pronounce their words and their accent. This is similar to the way that humans identify the voice at the other end of a telephone call.

This made me think about Anna’s last post regarding The Queen’s English and the role of accents in modern society; or, more to the point, do we as humans overcomplicate an issue that is clearly one of the most natural things in the world?  If all living creatures have accents, why do we prioritise one over another?  After all, isn’t The Queen’s English a manufactured accent that the hierarchy of society decided to prioritise?

The research does not go into whether the rest of the animal kingdom reacts differently to the language used by their leaders, but this would certainly make for interesting reading.

Category: Accents, Dialects, Interpreting | Tags:
Anna | April 27, 2011
3 comments

Language fit for a royal wedding…but not for everyday use.

"One must speak properly".

 

With just two days to go until the wedding of Prince William and his bride-to-be, Kate Middleton, it seems like the ideal time to once again consider the use of The Queen’s English in today’s society.

I have a vested interest in this topic as my mother grew up in Inverness where, according to linguistic experts, the best Queen’s English is spoken.  I had my speech corrected from an early age and, to be honest, I still have it corrected today.  However I am pleased that this is the case as it has definitely been an advantage to me in my chosen career of communication – although my colleagues can vouch for the fact that I can by no means claim to be a grammar or pronunciation Queen!

Award winning films, such as The Queen and The King’s Speech, which have been viewed around the world by millions, have allowed this old fashioned way of speaking to be shared on a global scale but does it make sense to protect this form of the English language, which is now considered by many to be dated, indefinitely?

English has changed significantly over the years.  The term, “The Queen’s English”, dates back to the 16th century and I’m not sure that anyone from the Elizabethan age would understand what some recent entrants to the Oxford English Dictionary, such as OMG, actually mean!

The Queen’s English Society certainly has a strong view, with its president publishing a very interesting article in The Independent newspaper highlighting concerns around the dumbing down of the English language.

So, should we be encouraging native English-speakers to adopt the traditional and regal way of speaking or does it confuse people trying to learn English as a second language?  Similarly, does it complicate things for the translation community. English translation of a company’s literature, brochures and websites might read strangely to English speakers if adhering to the rules of the Queen’s English and most businesses hope to convey their brand and messages using a conversational style and tone that has become commonplace in today’s marketing collateral.  At the same time, however, would you dismiss a job applicant’s CV if it was written in an informal style and do you still expect job seekers to submit a CV written in the Queen’s English? It seems to me that there is a time and a place for the most traditional use of the English language and I am sure that the royal wedding attendees will be putting their Queen’s English into practice this weekend.

One final point for those champions of the English language.  All languages evolve over time and let us not forget that English in fact a West Germanic language that originates from Anglo-Frisian dialects!

Category: Cultures, Languages, Translation | Tags: , ,
Emma | April 11, 2011
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Fabio Capello’s 100 words

England Football Manager - Fabio Capello

Fabio Capello

The second thought that came into my head (you can probably guess my first thought!) when reading that Fabio Capello claims to be able to communicate with the England football team with just 100 words, was that surely this is easier with the English language than Latin based languages, purely because it’s one of the few languages where gender is not a contributing factor.

I shamefully admit to being one of those annoying English people who, when on holiday, is either too embarrassed by my ignorance of foreign languages to attempt conversing in anything but English, or, in my best Mancunian accent, say “Una cerveza por favour”. Besides, one of the main reasons I would go to Spain is to burn myself to a crisp and drink beer, right?

Well as it happens, I know more French and Spanish than I give myself credit for; in fact I could be so bold as to say that I know in excess of 100 words in each and could probably make myself understood in certain situations and this is what Capello is referring to.

I’m sure that when I sit in the pub discussing match tactics (and contrary to common belief, as a girl, I do understand the off-side rule) I use over 100 football specific terms. I’ve heard some of Capello’s press conferences and he can certainly speak better English than I can any other language.

According to Peter Howarth, deputy director of Leeds University’s language centre, you would need around 1,500 words in order to communicate at an intermediate level. But if you are walking into a given situation knowing you are going to be conversing about one topic in particular, and doing so on a regular basis, then obviously your language skills are going to become stronger in that area than in others.

So yes, 100 words is a very good starting point but if this was all you needed to comfortably get by in another language then I think there would be a fair few more of us that could class ourselves as multilingual.

Category: Cultures, Languages |
Anna | March 8, 2011
5 comments

Acceptable accents in the business world

Be proud of your language roots

I was surprised this morning to stumble across a press release posted on the San Francisco Chronicle’s site promoting accent reduction programmes in the US.  The slant of the press release was to basically to highlight the fact that more than a quarter of people in the skilled workforce of the US who have either a doctoral degree, a degree or a master’s are “foreign-born” and how those individuals are missing out on opportunities in business because of their accents.

It is safe to say that international speakers must be valuable economically if they make up more than a quarter of the US workforce. The shocking part is that the press release claims many of these individuals are unable to convey the true level of their academic competence because of their roots. Roughly translated (pardon the pun) this suggests that people with foreign accents who are speaking English in the workplace are considered to be less academic and therefore less able to climb the career ladder.  So US employees are held back in their roles  because of accents, despite the massive push for more multilingual content across companies globally?

With offices and colleagues in the US, I am not convinced that this is the case but who am I to argue with facts?  Ok, I’ll give it a go.

I feel passionate about accents and their perceived impact in the business environment because I am one of those people with a very strong accent.  Born and raised in Glasgow, I left Scotland as soon as I had completed my degree at University and moved to London, the top financial centre of the world. I was offered the first job that I interviewed for, which  thankfully has been a common theme in most jobs I have applied for.  Is this because I was the best candidate? I hope so. Is it because I was memorable because of my accent in a sea of English people?  I tend to think that it has played a pretty big role.

An accent alone will not get you the job.  It has to be backed up with confidence, experience and an ability to speak articulately so that your interviewer will understand you – accent or no accent. I am extremely proud of my Scottish accent.  Yes, I have had to slow down my delivery (even people in parts of Scotland can’t always keep up with a Glaswegian conversation) and certain words have definitely softened over my 11 years in England but this has been due to time spent with my peers and not a deliberate decision.  I would never want to, nor would I ever expect a colleague to “reduce” their accent in order to progress professionally.

Perhaps I am missing something.  Maybe some companies do consider people with different accents to be less able to progress, more risky to put in front of clients and less competent in delivering tasks.  I hope not and I am pleased to say that my current employer would never discriminate in this way and encourages employees from different parts of the country and the world into their English-speaking offices.

Languages, dialects and accents are so precious.  We should be doing everything we can to preserve them, not reduce them.

Category: Accents, Business Management, Cultures, Dialects, Languages, Localization |
Emma | March 2, 2011
5 comments

Does text speak spell the end of the English language?

Text Abbreviations

R u down wiv txt speak?

It’s a subject I have touched upon in previous posts, but since reading an article specifically aimed at how text speak has the potential to threaten the English language as we know it, I thought this topic needed a little more exploration.

There are many scenarios in which text speak can cause embarrassment and numerous websites aimed at highlighting such misfortune. One example that came into my inbox recently was a lady mistaking LOL to mean ‘lots of love’ when most people read this as ‘laugh out loud’; probably not appropriate when announcing the death of a relative, but let us not forget why text speak exists and why it is increasingly popular amongst the younger generations.

Back in the day text messages were limited to 160 characters (with Twitter being a more modern day example, limited to a mere 140) and, unless lucky enough to have parents that would subsidise a contract phone, under 18s were bound to the restrictions of pay as you go phones, which don’t always offer the same ‘unlimited text’ allowances. Therefore cramming every last morsel of information in to just 160 characters is only going to be achieved by the severest of abbreviations, some of which are open to interpretation (such as LOL) and others could warrant a translation service.  As we absorb more information as an adolescent this could explain why, as we grow older, such habits die hard.

Linguistic experts fear that these habits can harm our academic development but according to research carried out by Manchester Metropolitan and Lancaster Universities, texting and Twitter are not the first time we have got our knickers in a twist about preserving the English language. The Edwardians’ worried that the informal tones of postcards would change the way people communicated, which undoubtedly they did but formal communication still exists today and there is nothing to suggest that it will not continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Category: Interpreting, Languages | Tags: , , , ,
Anna | January 31, 2011
One comment

Getting over the export barriers – again!

The world is your oyster

It’s time for us to get back on our favourite hobbyhorse here at Applied Language Solutions after reading an interesting piece on the BBC’s website this morning .

Small firms are missing out on exports…well, what do you know?

Rather than go down the “how many times do we have to say it” route, it’s far better for us to welcome this coverage on the export issue, which raises awareness of the opportunity that overseas sales presents; not only to UK companies but to the country and the economy as a whole.

The article focuses on a campaign driven by UKTI to highlight the benefits of exporting and overcome the perceived barriers such as resources, financing and understanding the culture. The subject of language as a barrier is briefly touched upon in the pamphlet promoted within the article, which refers readers to free online translation tools such as Google Translate.  However it isn’t always enough to use a tool like this as there is more than just local documentation translation to consider when targeting overseas markets. Pure machine translation can also ruffle a few cultural feathers along the way if the translations are too literal. Nothing worse than accidentally causing offence when trying to establish yourself in a new market so best to use it for certain types of content.

Translating a website is the ideal starting point to sell to other countries. With customers four times more likely to buy from a site in their own language it makes perfect sense and you don’t necessarily need a sales force on the ground if you can sell online. Before assuming this will be a huge, labour intensive and costly task bear in mind that you don’t actually have to translate the whole site.  Some targeted landing pages and a translated FAQ section might be all you need to get started.  Multilingual SEO can also help in terms of ensuring the right people, in the right markets get to the right pages on your site.  So getting the keywords, the meta data and any Pay Per Click adverts localized properly is critical.

To tackle the existing trade deficit we need to get more companies exporting and, despite our efforts through our Export Box initiative to date and regular rants on this blog, there are still too many companies out there believing that it simply isn’t an option for them.

We need more articles like this, more support and guidance from Government and a greater understanding of how easy it is to get started.

Ok, so we have been saying it since 2009.  Who knows, maybe more voices singing from the same hymn sheet is what we need to really get that mindset shift to happen once and for all.

Fingers crossed.

Category: Business Management, Cultures, Free Translation, Localization, Machine Translation, Translation |
Emma | January 28, 2011
No comments

Bing taps in to Asia’s love of Karaoke to help teach English

Bing Crosby

You'd be forgiven for thinking of this Bing when it comes to Karaoke.

Despite the KTV feature having been available since September 2010, Microsoft has started to actively push a new karaoke style language tool on China’s Bing search directory, in an attempt to help users improve their pronunciation when learning the English language.

The company’s delay in plugging this innovative tool is due to months of X Factor style auditions to find a model with clear pronunciation, a pleasant smile and friendly personality. With winner Cissy Wong ticking all the boxes they now have their ‘mouth model’.

As it would obviously be impossible to record every single sentence and phrase that users may want to practice, Microsoft has developed technology to record a wide range of sounds, mouth and facial expressions. These are then put together in various sequences and syndicate millions of translations. The current library of sequences is around 10 million, with several thousand more being added each week.

Bing currently trawls the internet seeking accurate Chinese-to-English translations from a variety of sources. In turn Microsoft gathers current examples of translations to give users the most up-to-date uses of the words and phrases they are learning. The directory currently receives over 1 million hits per day; and with the recent publicity and growth of information, this figure is set to skyrocket.

Microsoft has also announced its plans to make this technology available to Japanese speaking people sometime in the near future and undoubtedly it will not stop there.

Category: Free Translation, Languages, Technology, Translation | Tags: ,
GavinWheeldon | December 1, 2010
2 comments

Machine Translation in the Real World – a Dell Case Study

Register now

Space is limited. Register now.

Many companies are talking about machine translation but the number of organisations that are actually putting it into practice and carrying out live trials is still relatively low given the excellent results that this translation method can now deliver.

With the developments in machine translation and the increasing popularity of post edited machine translation there is a lot of noise about the service, but with this comes debate around appropriate content, volumes, quality and investment versus long term cost efficiencies which will be addressed by our webinar panel.

Join us for a Machine Translation Webinar on December 15

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/884796078

MT in the Real World will communicate the benefits, address the challenges and dispel the myths surrounding this rapidly evolving translation technology solution and will feature Wayne Bourland, Senior Manager in Dell’s Global Localization Team talking about the company’s reasons for using MT, how they use it and for which content types.

John Dixon, Strategic Solutions Director at Applied Language Solutions will present on the results gained from building a bespoke engine for Dell and will be joined by Professor Andy Way, esteemed MT expert from Dublin City University and consultant for Applied Language Solutions, who will talk about our roadmap for MT based around the MOSES tool.

Title: MT in the Real World – a Dell Case Study
Date:Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Time:4:00 PM – 5:00 PM GMT
To read more about machine translation visit http://www.appliedlanguage.com/translation_services/blended_approach-.aspx

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server
Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

Category: Machine Translation, Technology, Translation | Tags: , , ,
Lauren Nemec | November 23, 2010
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Elizabeth I: Queen of England, Defender of the Faith and… Linguist?

Elizabeth I is known for many things, such as her legendary father and infamous mother, her virginity, patronage of the theatre, and her status as the longest reigning Tudor monarch. Few people know she was an enthusiastic linguist.

An excellent pupil, Elizabeth studied languages from the age of four. She was fluent in French, Italian, Latin and Greek, which she learned using the method of double translation; she would translate a passage from Latin to English, then back into Latin, verbatim. Sounds tedious, but Elizabeth had a talent for languages and reveled in translation.

As a New Years’ gift, she presented her father, Henry VIII, a book of prose that was flawlessly translated in Latin, French and Italian.

As Queen, Elizabeth liked to show off her language skills to the many foreign ambassadors at court.

Throughout her life, Elizabeth continued to do translations for relaxation and to keep her mind sharp, much in the same way we might do crossword or Sudoku puzzles today.

Category: Translation |
LeeB | November 1, 2010
No comments

ALS at ICT2010

ICT2010 Brussels

ICT2010 Brussels

Applied Language Solutions visited ICT 2010 this year and was proud to see so much innovation coming from the EU.

The show was opened up by, amongst others, the President of Belgium and the Prince of Belgium, highlighting the prestige associated with this important industry event. The main auditorium allowed multilingual presentations to be shown removing the language barrier by having a panel of interpreters and linguists behind the scenes, while the translated versions of what was being said were beamed into our ears using InfraRed headsets. The languages covered were English, French, Italian and Spanish and you simply turned a dial to your language and the headset would repeat what was being said.  All clever stuff.

In addition to networking sessions and discussions there was also the ICT Exhibition Forum which included everything from Robots such as the iCub and EEG devices such as the GammACap to home automation and green IT initiatives. A full rundown of what was being exhibited can be found here.

EuroMatrixPlus had a stand in the exhibition room which was manned when I was there by Andreas Eisele and Christian Federmann. I discussed various Machine Translation subjects with Christian on the day and got to talk about our own SmartMATE Machine Translation Solution. Hans Uszkoreit was also there and gave an interesting presentation on Understanding of contents through understanding of languages.

Lots of innovation was on show and we were happy to see a keen interest in green technologies such as renewable energies and carbon credit schemes, which are becoming more and more important in the procurement of services, across multiple industries.  Applied Language Solutions has always had green initiatives at our core with paperless offices and cloud computing so it’s great to see so many companies investing in the research and development of additional green technologies that can be adopted by corporates.

With all of the advancements being made in so many different areas, it’s clear that there are a lot of exciting years ahead for Europe.

Category: Localization | Tags: , ,
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