Opinion & features

Transcreating Headlines is one of the most interesting parts of a translator’s job, especially when it will be seen around the world. This is especially true for headlines from large multinational companies like Apple Inc. This article walks through a fascinating example of a single headline introducing Apple Pay into more than a dozen languages. Where did Apple go right in transcreating it? Where did the team “punt” and do a more or less literal translation? Looking at examples from Spanish to Japanese, we see that even large companies with big budgets produce varied quality translations.

Full article:

https://www.ibabbleon.com/copywriter-translator/2020/12/transcreation-apple-headline-localization-translation/

Indian publishers are exploring literature from under-represented languages

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/79486001.cms

With the advancement of translation and interpretation technology, how concerned do translators and interpreters actually need to be? Is the robot-controlled future upon us?? Here’s my take on Amazon Echo’s new Alexa Live Translation feature/skill, and how I believe we’re still in the green zone.

https://www.favretranslations.com/post/new-amazon-echo-alexa-live-translation-feature-translators-concerned

What words marked 2020 and what were some things language professionals have to do to adapt to changing times and linguistic needs? How can translators be up to speed with the latest words and trends? Find out in the latest article:

https://www.favretranslations.com/post/most-used-words-2020-translators-adapt

Self-promotion as a freelancer is super important, so in my latest article, I talk about different ways that a freelancer, especially a translator or other language professional, can make themselves stand out, be relevant, meet industry peers and get noticed as an expert!

https://www.favretranslations.com/post/how-to-market-yourself-and-get-new-clients-as-a-freelancer

So you’re a professional writer or translator. Quality is an important measurable in our line of work, and when it’s lacking, it gets noticed. Mistakes can cost you a client. However, there are software solutions to help language professionals write better, find the right word, do more research, organize our work, and stay productive on top of it all. A lot can be achieved by adding plug-ins to your internet browser. Here are my top favorite, best Google Chrome Browser Extensions for writers and translators.

https://www.favretranslations.com/post/best-google-chrome-extensions-for-writers-translators

As companies increasingly turn towards international operations and expand into global markets, there is also a greater need for translators.

A carefully curated translation CV is essential if you want to stand out from the crowd and secure new projects and clients. In order to successfully compete against other translators, here are five top tips to improve your translation CV.

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Here at The Savvy Newcomer we understand that it can be intimidating to talk about money. It’s often a sticky subject, but we feel it couldn’t be more important to address as small business owners. One major component of succeeding as a freelance translator or interpreter is managing your finances well. If you don’t master your money, your translation career won’t be profitable or sustainable. This series on money matters is intended to get right to the heart of some of our biggest questions about freelance finances; we won’t shy away from the tough questions and we invite you to dive into these topics along with us.

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Nil Darpan or The Indigo Planting Mirror was a Bengali play written by Dinabandhu Mitra in 1858-’59. The drama was written in the context of social agitation in Bengal, known as the Indigo Revolt. The play examines the treatment of the Indian peasantry or ryots by the indigo planters. It was first published in 1860.

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Award-winning Tamil writer Perumal Murugan’s latest novel Estuary has been translated by Nandini Krishnan. Estuary is a curious book. It may appear flat in its tone, but the preoccupation of the government clerk Kumarasurar with his son Meghas’s welfare is universal. Many parents will identify with it. Much of the story revolves around Meghas’s request for a fancy smartphone that Kumarasurar may or not be able to afford. Estuary is a commentary on society and a gentle dig at people who are immune to external influences and refuse to evolve.

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Today on WWB Daily, Gitanjali Patel and Jessie Spivey of Shadow Heroes, an organization that runs creative translation workshops for students, take on the myth of the “good” translation. Deconstructing the harmful and exclusionary assumptions behind the phrase, they propose an alternative approach to translation.

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Interpreting is a professional field. What was once done by whoever was bilingual now has an established certification process. There are less and less reasons to work with unvetted providers. This timeline tells the story on the West Coast, where I live. I am from Oregon, where I am certified as a healthcare interpreter and a court interpreter. The story is told from an Oregon perspective. However, nothing happens in isolation. Oregon often works in partnership with the other West Coast states, or observes their work closely. What happens in the court interpreting field affects the work in the healthcare interpreting field. The story would not be complete without the federal context. Therefore, there are elements from all West Coast states and the history of court and healthcare certification is intermingled.

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With many organizations expanding their reach and going global, the role of translation is becoming increasingly important. Businesses need effective multilingual communication with their partners, employees and customers across cultural borders if they are to succeed in international markets.

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When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, a whole new set of terms entered our lexicon.

Broadcasters, translators and language practitioners had to scramble to find ways to translate them into South Africa’s indigenous languages.

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-09-16-the-language-of-lockdown-excuse-me-do-you-speak-covid/

How do you reach the new potential markets and enhance your digital presence in order to please international customers? The answer is website localization.

Translation is simply translating the copy from one language to another. You have “a red apple” in English and “une pomme rouge” in French. Simple as that.

Localization is far more tricky. It is a process of adapting your product (i.e. a website) to a specific market or audience in accordance with the audience’s culture. Think of design elements as an example. If we compare the Canadian and Japanese Coca-Cola websites, we will see that the design differs drastically. While the Canadian website seems to have a clearer layout and displays the messages about the brand’s value and mission, the Japanese version of the site seems over packed with information and images. But is it wrong? Not at all! The trick is, Asian audience loves to learn as much information as possible about the product before buying it, so Coca-Cola clearly did some quality research before launching the Japanese website.

In the article, you can read up on:

https://multilingual.com/website-localization-basics-and-a-jooble-case-study/

We’re proud to have as CLMP Members many presses and literary journals that champion work in translation from around the world. Here are some books and magazine issues we recommend reading in September and year-round—and check out our reading list for August’s Women in Translation Month for more!

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Eileen R Tabios’s Inculpatory Evidence is a collection of 10 poems translated into Thai language by Natthaya Thamdee, a professional translator and lecturer at Vongchavalitkul University in Nakhon Ratchasima Thailand. It was published by Laughing/Ouch/Cube/Productions and i.e. press, California-New York. It is also Tabios’s third bilingual edition.

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Minister of Defense Taro Kono is back on Twitter asking for the English media to use his desired name order, Kono Taro. In the process, he stirred up an 150-year-long public debate on how Japanese names should be rendered in Western languages.

Last fall, Japan embraced a policy to swap the order and write the surname first on all official documents, recommending capitalization to emphasize which name is the family name. Accordingly, Shinzo Abe would become ABE Shinzo and, it follows, Hayao Miyazaki would be MIYAZAKI Hayao, and Naomi Osaka, OSAKA Naomi.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2020/09/15/language/japanese-name-order/

The book was originally published by the Persian publishing company Cheshmeh in 2018 and soon became a bestseller.

It has been rendered into Arabic by prominent Arab translator Ahmad Heidari who has translated several other books by Iranian writers including Sadeq Hedayat’s “Isfahan, Half of the World” and Bozorg Alavi’s “Her Eyes”.

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