In today's post, we are going to take a break from our usual hard-hitting, cutting-edge perspective on the world of translation and tell you about a very interesting resource for literary translation: the Index Translationum. UNESCO has been hard at work cataloging translated books and facts about literary translations for over 65 years, and they're all available online.
During the Super Bowl, people talk nearly as much about the three million dollar 30-second ads than they do about the actual football game itself. That's why Honda is pre-promoting and creating buzz for its new ad that will air during Super Bowl Sunday this February 5th. And the buzz now is all about the return of a slightly grey Ferris Bueller, the main character from the 1986 hit movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". Yep, Matthew Broderick returns as Ferris, a bon vivant with the utmost confidence, even when singing in Chinese. We ask: why sing in Chinese and not the original German from the movie, and was it dubbed?
When it comes to launching your product in
new languages, translation is only one part of the picture. Your brand lives or
dies with your international customers during runtime, and there’s only one way
to ensure you make a good impression: localization testing. If it sounds familiar, pat yourself on the back, because you have probably seen it before in our top ten tips article.
Before the press releases go out, get your translation project “outside the lab” for a little real-world, in-context experimentation. In this post, we’ll review three of the most important zones for localization QA, and give you an idea on how to get the real deal when it comes to customer perception.
FREE WEBINAR ALERT! Come one, come all to hear Acclaro Globalization Architect, Jon Ritzdorf, present “Website Translation: Conquering new Language Markets to Gain New Sales” on Tuesday, January 31, at 9 AM Pacific / 12 PM Eastern. If you are looking to expand your global reach, Jon will give you valuable tips to consider for your international web presence. Click through for more information and registration.
Exciting news for oenophiles! Luxury winery Opus One, forged from a partnership between Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Robert Mondavi, recently partnered with Acclaro to localize their retail website for customers in four countries.
When thinking about translation, we know idioms commonly used in English (like "it's raining cats and dogs" or "lame duck") are difficult to translate. But what about simpler things such as names and dates? As it turns out, they’re not so simple when it comes to software localization, as LinkedIn found out in this post on their website. With languages like Chinese, Japanese, and Russian you must understand not only new character sets, but also date ordering (month/day/year? year/day/month? day/month/year?) and even spacing — in our world, these fall under the umbrella term of "internationalization". Let’s take a proper look at proper names in translation.
At many large companies, all of the various components of a typical localization project — from organization to process to budgets and schedules — are in the hands of a project manager (or PM). This is no small task even when all the pieces fit together well...and when they don't, your typical localization PM has a lot to juggle. If you're tasked with producing localized content at your organization, Acclaro CEO Michael Kriz discusses ten best practices for project managers in an article on Content Management.com, and we've got a sampling of it right here.
In the world of translation, even fast-food gets into the act. Take, for example, the "Dark Vador" (no, that’s not a typo) burgers that are so popular right now in Quick fast-food resturants in France. As explained in this article from the Christian Science Monitor, these black-bunned burgers are being marketed in sync with the release of "Star Wars: Phantom Menace 3D". Bun aside, you may be wondering why Darth Vader’s name has changed. Well, young Jedi, it’s as much what you say as how you say it.
Did you put your plans to expand into Japan on hold when last year’s earthquake leveled confidence in its economy? If the fallout from the crisis temporarily clouded your view, now is the time to recognize that abundant business opportunities appear every day in post-earthquake Japan.
Finding where your company’s global expansion strategy fits with Japanese consumers may be your greatest source of growth in the decade ahead, as we mentioned in our Q4 newsletter post, "Opportunity in Japan's New Dawn". Trends in retail, social media, mobile advertising, and product design show tremendous promise for 2012 and beyond. Japan is a trendsetter — a pioneer in product design, mobile technology, architecture — and sets the bar for buyer desire globally.
We know...we're pretty awesome. We hear it all the time [blush]. You can give us anything for translation: software, websites, documentation, audio, video, any language and most any file format, and we'll transform it into exotic gibberish that you might not understand (but your global customers will!). But our full spectrum of services go beyond translation. Sharpen your pencils and open your notebooks, because you're about to get a lesson in Localization Agency Services 101.
Pop quiz: With a brand new year around the corner, where can you position your company to touch one billion consumers throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East? Which language should you speak to market your business to the fourth largest population in the world? Which economies may one day rival Brazil and China for spending power? If you don’t know, now’s a good time for a crash course on the global expansion opportunities in Turkey and Indonesia. Istanbul and Jakarta may be almost 6,000 miles apart, but they share global appeal in terms of new international business.
Flash Player will soon undergo a radical transformation for mobile apps, according to an article in Gizmodo. As the driving force behind video-dominant social media sites like YouTube, Flash was once the stalwart, must-code application for interactive media, but will soon morph into Adobe’s newest project: AIR, which will take full advantage of the rich media functions of HTML5. Acclaro’s Globalization Consultant, Jon Ritzdorf, explains what this could mean for the world of mobile app localization.
What comes to mind when you think of Hong Kong? Glittering skyscrapers, rumbling trams, Buddhist temples, museums, parks, street markets, and dim sum…not to mention gorgeous Victoria Harbour, for starters. Perhaps even Disneyland. When Christmas rolls around, though, a traditional holiday spirit pervades the air, and you will also see Santas and Christmas trees in abundance as Hong Kong puts on its holiday finery.
If you're like us, you much prefer shopping on your favorite store's website at home in your bunny slippers (don't judge) than fighting the crowds at the mall. And you're not alone...Cyber Monday resulted in $1.25 billion dollars in online sales in the U.S. alone, according to an article on ITProPortal. While Cyber Monday is traditionally a follow-up to the post-Thanksgiving "Black Friday" event in the U.S., global ecommerce is following suit.
For Americans, Mexico may seem like that oh too-familiar country next door — the land of tacos, tequila, mariachis and salsa — yet our closest neighbor to the south has more mystique than the average outsider realizes. If you're looking to do business with Mexico, it's in your interest to dig a bit deeper and gain an understanding of authentic Mexican culture; after all, you'll need a few talking points for that local networking event or business meal.
As a business professional with an eye on emerging economies, you are probably familiar with Mexico's basic profile. You probably already know, for example, that Mexico is home to the highest number of Spanish speakers in the world; La ciudad de México (a.k.a. Mexico City) tops the population charts for cities with nearly 20 million inhabitants. Those of you who read the The Wall Street Journal or The Financial Times consider common knowledge that Mexico is part of the super-quartet of emerging economies called MIST. And the gastronomical geeks among you have no doubt read that our most cherished food north of the border, chocolate, originated in Mexico.
But here are seven Mexican fun facts that even the savvy international business professional may not know:
The best thing about our Go Global Holiday Card Creator is that you (yes, you!) get to send free e-cards with holiday greetings to friends, family, business associates and/or parole officers around the world, in any one of twelve languages. From a secretary in Shanghai to an uncle in Umbria, put a smile on someone’s face in a different time zone.
The end of the year is a traditional time for gift-giving in many parts of the world...but often for very different reasons. In Japan, early December marks one of the two main gift-giving seasons, called oseibo (the other main gifting season is called ochugen and happens in the summertime). During oseibo, friends, family, and especially business associates may exchange lavish gifts like cantaloupe — melons and many fruits common in other parts of the world are a rare treat in Japan — that can fetch prices of up to $100 in Japanese department stores. Guest author Rochelle Kopp explains the custom of and etiquette behind oseibo.
We have three easy steps to breaking into the rapidly growing Chinese online marketplace:
Step 1. Read our newsletter article on preparing your social media launch
Step 2. Check out this article from Fast Company to get your statistics need-to-know cultural considerations, and
Step 3. Continue reading this blog post (click "Read Full Post" below) to find out how these elements interact.
Ever wonder how the subtitling and dubbing process actually works? It is a far cry from the sometimes badly-produced televised kung fu movies from the 80s and 90s that you may remember. As mentioned in our recent blog post on the art of subtitle translation, there's more to this than meets the eye.
Alessia Petrucci, Acclaro's Translation Director, oversees translation and language related processes as well as vendor recruitment. Originally from Tuscany, Alessia has a degree in Translation from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and has worked in the translation department at Microsoft and J.D. Edwards before joining Acclaro. Antonella Masters, Project Coordinator for Acclaro's San Francisco office, is a Roman native and has worked for Chevron and BASF in Italy, as well as for the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Scuola in San Francisco.
Cocomero and anguria both mean watermelon in Italian, except Romans will be more familiar with the former term and most everyone else will know the latter. While this may seem odd, "modern" Italian is actually relatively new. Prior to the unification of the country 150 years ago, centuries of division and foreign rule (Austrian, Spanish and French) have meant both cultural and linguistic diversity, as evidenced in the development of the multiple dialects used all along the Italian Peninsula.
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