Category: News
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A Linguist Makes it to Hollywood
Our profession doesn’t make it to the big screen too often. But this November, a film called “Arrival” promises to showcase translation, interpretation, and linguistic theory. At least, that’s the hope, given the source material. The movie is based on award-winning novella “Story of Your Life”, by Ted Chiang. In just 39 pages, Chiang’s tale…
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A novel so good, people were afraid to translate it
The New Yorker has a very interesting piece about this Irish novel, which Irish Gaelic speakers have revered for nearly 70 years, to the point of it never having been translated. Until now. Suddenly, within the past year, two translations have been published. Expectations are sky-high. Let the debate and analysis begin.
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How close are we to real-time translation technology?
In an excellent recent article that examines the state of real-time translation technology, Professor David Arbesú, of the University of South Florida, explores where we stand in terms of knocking down the global language barrier. The short answer: technology is quickly improving, but it still relies heavily on human translators to make it work.
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What’s the deal with translating Seinfeld?
Whether or not you were a fan of Seinfeld (disclaimer: I was a HUGE fan), there is a lot to be learned from this article on the difficulties that translators face when attempting to translate comedy and culture. Thanks to my lovely wife for passing along this link.
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The Globalization of Literature
In an Op-Ed piece for the New York Times, Benjamin Moser discusses the importance of promoting non-English authors, in an English-dominated global economy. He brings up a number of good points about how works written in English not only enjoy greater readership in English-speaking countries, but they are the most commonly translated books in other…
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Realtors are interested in translators and interpreters
We tend to think about our industry from the perspective of practitioners, but it’s important to keep end users in mind as well. Clients can be unsure of the differences between translators and interpreters, how to find qualified professionals, and whether they are actually receiving reliable services. I was recently interviewed for an article by…
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The Neuroscience of Simultaneous Interpreting
Happy 2015! I read this article a few weeks ago about the science involved in simultaneous interpreting. Human brains are incredibly complex machines. Neuroscientists are now trying to understand how language professionals do what we do. There is still a lot to learn!
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$25 million Invested in Language Service Technology
I saw this story a couple of months ago. What struck me was the fact that venture capitalists were willing to put up $25 million for what they perceive as the future of language services, namely some type of hybrid software-and-human service such as the one being touted in the story. When people ask what…