Thursday 28 July 2011

Translation Technology Courses 2011/12

The Translation Group at Imperial College London is pleased to announce its schedule for one day translation technology courses for the academic year 2011/2012. These courses are open to both professionals and students interested.

Translation Group at Imperial College London
2011 - 2012
ONE DAY INTENSIVE
TRANSLATION TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOPS
Open to students as well as professionals.
  

Autumn Term 2011

Introduction to Audiodescription: Joselia Neves
Saturday,11 November 2011
10:30 - 16:30
Respeaking: Pablo Romero-Fresco
Saturday, 26 November 2011
10:30 - 16:30
Legal and Business Translation: Anabel Borja Albi
Saturday, 3 December 2011
10:30 - 16:30
Introduction to Subtitling: Adriana Tortoriello
Saturday, 10 December 2011
10:30 - 16:30

Spring Term 2012

Deja Vu: Mark Shuttleworth
Saturday, 4 February 2012
10:30 - 16:30
Audiodescription in Museums: Joselia Neves
Saturday, 11 February 2012
10:30 - 16:30
Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing: Soledad Zarate
Saturday, 25 February 2012
10:30 - 16:30
Introduction to Dubbing: Frederic Chaume
Saturday, 10 March 2012
10:30 - 16:30
Introduction to Voice-over: Anna Matamala
Saturday, 17 March 2012
10:30 - 16:30

Summer Term 2012

Term Extraction and Terminology Management: Bettina Bajaj
Saturday, 5 May 2012
10:30 - 16:30
Trados: Rocio Banos Pinero
Saturday, 19 May 2012
10:30 - 16:30
Advanced Subtitling: Adriana Tortoriello
Saturday, 26 May 2012
10:30 - 16:30
Interpreting and Technology: Oscar Jimenez Serrano
Saturday, 2 June 2012
10:30 - 16:30


To apply for a place, email Tom Barbanneau t.barbanneau@ic.ac.uk


Tuesday 19 July 2011

Vlookup: save your localization day!

"You are two weeks into the project and a good deal of translation has already been done, when the client writes you with an updated source. “We just edited a couple of lines. Please copy your translations and continue on the new file”


Then you open the file and you find out that the order of each single line has been changed. “Copying your translations” now means losing a couple of hours finding and pasting each single line, eyes wide open to be sure not to make mistakes."

The answer: aligning and auto-translation made easy in Excel through Vlookup
http://localization.it/2011/07/game-localization-tips-aligning-and.html

Wednesday 13 July 2011

A pizza with everything? I knew that wouldn't work

Translating humour might be the most appealing to dissertation students, but is so difficult that it tends to make for more confusion than laughs.

"Translators and interpreters attempting to convey a joke from one language into another have a huge number of pitfalls to watch out for. Some types of humor simply don’t translate well into other languages, as one journalist recently discovered when he tried to share a joke with the Dalai Lama during an interview."

More on through Accredited's blog, not least because it involves a joke about the Dalai Lama, including the good man himself.

Monday 11 July 2011

Quote

We don't aim to include a daily / weekly / monthly 'quote of the day' kind of thing, but this one popped slightly louder than other tweets:
"Web localization isn’t just about direct sales. It’s about lead generation. And it’s about learning what your customers — and future customers  – want.
Without a localized web site, you’re just guessing."
John Yunker, author of The Art of the Global Gateway and The Web Globalization Report Card (http://tiny.cc/vugon)

'Spain is different', Google Translate too!

Through La Informacion.com we learn about issues in providing titles for films for Spain and how the stereotypes of problems from the past still shape current impressions.Whether you like http://tiny.cc/7rrvr or not, try and have a look at its Google Translate version underneath:

Spain is different' hasta en los títulos de las películas
La industria del cine titula los filmes del inglés al español con criterios comerciales, traducciones polémicas o 'spoilers', ante la dificultad de adaptarlos literalmente.
Como nos recordaba Sofía Coppola en Lost in Traslation, algo se pierde en la traducción de un idioma a otro. En el caso de muchos títulos españoles de películas extranjeras, poco o nada queda de la denominación original.
La dificultad de adaptar literalmente algunas expresiones foráneas, la posibilidad de atraer al público con un título con más gancho o la coincidencia en el nombre con el de otras películas son algunas razones que llevan a las distribuidoras cinematográficas a realizar unos cambios un tanto polémicos. Las traducciones sui generis no son algo nuevo. El título español de muchos clásicos es una versión muy libre del original.
Un ejemplo de ello lo tenemos en Cuando ruge la marabunta, la película de aventuras interpretadas por Charlon Heston y Eleanor Parker en 1954. El título en inglés era The Naked Jungle, algo así como La jungla desnuda, en referencia a las zonas de selva que han sido devastadas por las termitas coprotagonistas del filme.
Lo más curioso del caso fue la leyenda que persiguió a la película debido un título español que enmascaraba una denominación anglosajona susceptible de las más eróticas interpretaciones. La jungla desnuda original alimentó la imaginación de los más calenturientos, que especularon con que la censura franquista había sustituido las mujeres en cueros por hormigas carnívoras.
Curioso es también el caso de Con faldas y a lo loco (1959), que en EE UU y los países anglosajones se llamo Some Like it Hot, algo así como Algunos les gusta caliente. El título original, como en muchos del maestro Billy Wilder, tenía doble sentido: se refería tanto a las aventuras más o menos picantonas de dos músicos que se disfrazan de mujeres para introducirse en una orquesta de chicas, como al género musical, el hot, que tocaba la banda.

Ridículo, ridículo
No obstante, no hay que irse tan lejos para encontrar nombres castellanos un tanto absurdos. Martin Scorsese tuvo que soportar como After Hours (1985), una comedia casi kafkiana, que sigue las accidentadas peripecias de un tipo en la madrugada neoyorquina, se convertía en ¡Jo, qué noche!
Igualmente peculiar fue la denominación que recibió en nuestro país la película juvenil Ice Princess. La princesa del hielo (2005) del original se convirtió por obra y gracia de la distribuidora en Soñando, Soñando… triunfé patinando.
No menos grotesco resultó el nombre por el que conocimos en la piel de toro a The Frighteners (1996), la primera película de Peter Jackson en Hollywood. Ni cortos ni perezosos los responsables del largometraje en España decidieron que esos asustadores o amendrentadores a los que hacía referencia el título inglés se convirtieran en Agárrame esos fantasmas.
La palma de los despropósitos, sin embargo, se la lleva ¡Olvídate de mí! (2004), libérrimo título de un original que hacía referencia al Eterno resplandor de una mente inmaculada (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).
Quizá la saga cinematográfica que más polvareda ha levantado con su denominación hispana ha sido la que aquí conocemos como Jungla de Cristal, adaptación muy infiel del Die Hard original. El largometraje se podía haber traducido al castellano como Difícil de matar, un título que aquí recibió una película protagonizada por Steven Seagal.
Sin embargo, si los responsables hubieran optado por esta opción puede que también hubieran errado. Al parecer, el Die Hard original está tomado de la expresión inglesa Old habits die hard, que podríamos adaptar a nuestro idioma como Las viejas costumbres son difíciles de abandonar.
Quizá los problemas con los dobles sentidos llevaron a la distribuidora a optar por el más obvio Jungla de cristal, en referencia al rascacielos en el que tiene lugar la acción. Eso obligó a que el resto de las partes de la serie tuvieran necesariamente que llevar la palabra Jungla en su denominación española.

Spoilers
En algunos casos, los títulos castellanos se convierten en spoilers de los argumentos de los filmes. Por ejemplo, La semilla del diablo (1968) desvelaba que Mia Farrow llevaba en sus entrañas al mismísimo demonio, aunque la denominación original sólo hiciera referencia al bebé de Rosemary (Rosemary’s Baby).
Algo parecido le ocurrió a Billy Wilder con Avanti! (1972), un filme protagonizado por Jack Lemmon y Juliet Mills. El ¡Adelante! del original se convirtió en el muy explícito ¿Qué ocurrió entre mi padre y tu madre?, que descubría gran parte del meollo del largometraje.
No obstante, alguna de las licencias poéticas de los traductores resulta verdaderamente acertada. Ese es el caso de El crepúsculo de los dioses, obra maestra de Billy Wilder, protagonista involuntario de este artículo. El título original es Sunset Boulevard (1950), nombre de la calle de Hollywood donde vive la protagonista, una vieja estrella del celuloide en decadencia.
Sunset en inglés significa el atardecer por lo que la denominación española de una película que trata el ocaso de una diosa del séptimo arte resulta muy adecuada. Una excepción en un aspecto, el de los títulos españoles de películas extranjeras, donde los patinazos darían para una enciclopedia.

Spain is different 'even in the titles of the films (through GT...)
The movie industry titled films from English to Spanish commercial basis, translations controversial or 'spoilers', given the difficulty of adapting them literally.
As we remembered Sofia Coppola Lost in Translation, something lost in translation from one language to another. For many Spanish titles of foreign films, little or nothing remains of the original name.
The difficulty of adapting some expressions literally alien, the possibility of attracting the public with a degree more hook or coincidence in the name of other movies are some reasons that lead to the film distributors to make some changes somewhat controversial. Sui generis translations are not new. The Spanish title of many classics is a very free version of the original.
An example of this is in The Naked crowds, the film played by Charlton Heston adventure and Eleanor Parker in 1954. The English title was The Naked Jungle, something like The Naked Jungle, in reference to areas of forest have been ravaged by termites co-stars of the film.
The funny thing was the legend that haunted the film because a Spanish title that masked a Saxon name likely the most erotic performances. The original naked jungle fed the imagination of the most feverish, who speculated that censorship had replaced Franco naked women by carnivorous ants.
Curious is also the case of Some Like It Hot (1959), which in the U.S. and the Anglo-Saxon was called Some Like it Hot, something like Some Like It Hot. The original title, as in many of the master Billy Wilder had a double sense: it concerned both about the adventures of two musicians poussin disguising themselves as women to get into an orchestra of girls, as the musical genre, the hot, that the band playing.

Ridiculous, ridiculous
However, do not go so far to find a little absurd Spanish names. Martin Scorsese had to endure as After Hours (1985), almost Kafkaesque comedy, which follows the adventures of a rugged type New York in the early morning, became Jo, what a night!
Equally unusual was the name he received in our country the youth film Ice Princess. The Ice Princess (2005) became the original by the grace of the distributor in dreaming, dreaming ... triumphed skating.
No less bizarre was the name by which we met in the skin of bull The Frighteners (1996), the first film in Peter Jackson in Hollywood. Without thinking of the film makers in Spain decided that these frightening or amendrentadores referring to the English title to become Frighteners.
The palm of the nonsense, however, brings me Forget! (2004), freest original title of which referred to Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).
Perhaps the film franchise that has raised more dust with the name of Hispanics have been here know as Die Hard, very unfaithful adaptation of the original Die Hard. The film could have been translated into Castilian as Hard to Kill, a title that here was a movie starring Steven Seagal.
However, if those responsible had chosen this option may also have erred. Apparently, the original Die Hard is taken from the Old English term habits die hard, we could adapt to our language as Old habits are hard to break.
Perhaps the problems with double meanings led to the distributor to choose the most obvious Die Hard, referring to the skyscraper in which the action takes place. That forced the remaining parts of the series were necessarily take the word in its Spanish name Jungle.

Spoilers
In some cases, the titles become spoilers Castilian of the arguments of the films. For example, Rosemary's Baby (1968) Mia Farrow revealing that she bears the devil himself, although the original name only make reference to Rosemary's Baby (Rosemary's Baby).
Something similar happened to Billy Wilder Avanti! (1972), a film starring Jack Lemmon and Juliet Mills. The Go! original became very explicit in what happened between my father and your mother?, who discovered much of the core of the film.
However, some of the poetic license of the translator is truly successful. That is the case with Twilight of the Gods masterpiece, Billy Wilder, involuntary protagonist of this article. The original title is Sunset Boulevard (1950), street name, lives in Hollywood where the protagonist, an old movie star in decline.
Sunset in English means the evening so the Spanish name of a movie about the decline of a goddess of cinema is very appropriate. An exception in one aspect, the Spanish titles of foreign films, where the skid would for an encyclopedia.

Friday 8 July 2011

10 Tips for Writing International Technical Content

On the Content Wrangler, Michael Kriz, founder and president of Acclaro posted a blog on tips for writing technical content for global dissemination.

To effectively scale a global business, you and your writers should keep these 10 things in mind as you build out communication for a diverse number of audiences:

1. Use global English – For every native speaker of English, there are about three non-native speakers. That means that of the one billion people who are believed to speak some form of English, 750 million of them likely speak some form of hybrid English that may incorporate aspects of their native language or are highly influenced by factors like pop culture vocabulary or advertising. It’s important that your communication in English is understandable to all English speakers, which means short, simple sentences and no idiomatic expressions or cultural references. Or, if you are forced to include local jargon or culturally-specific phrases, we suggest vetting expressions and examples for global readiness and tagging them for local adaptations.

2. Keep it concise – In addition to using global English, brevity is important for straightforward translation. Shorter sentences, no double negatives, and fewer “mini-words” (a, at, the, and) ease understanding by your translators, which will result in faster and more accurate translations into target languages.

3. Use consistent terminology - While you might be tempted to mix up your vocabulary for variety, remember that good technical communication and comprehension depend on using the same word to describe the same concept over and over again. When delivering original, English content to foreign audiences or translating that content, this is even more important. More variety means more room for confusion and mistranslation.Using consistent terminology also facilitates machine translation (MT).

4. Check your symbols - Using an image to describe something may seem like a great trick, because it cuts down on your word count for translation. However, not all symbols carry the same meaning across borders. A red hexagonal stop sign in Japan, for example, does not mean stop!

5. Use XML - XML is the King of File Types when it comes to writing for international audiences. Formatting is embedded in code that typically gets externalized during the translation process. Because of this, the engineering end is lighter as it’s less likely to have the same problems as native MS Word, FrameMaker, InDesign or Quark files.

6. Get ready for text to grow - Text expansion is a fact of translation. Expect it and plan for extra space or automatic resizing where possible. It mainly becomes an issue when text is used within images and must fit into a certain fixed width or layout. Many European languages end up 20% longer than English, so consider that when creating original design, including artwork, graphics, and charts. On the other hand, your text may “shrink” on a page when translating into some Asian languages or converting U.S. letter size paper to A4 for many foreign markets.

7. Use image best practices - For example rather than embed graphics in a document, link them. The same goes for reusable components of text. This simplifies replacement when you localize those files, and makes future updates more seamless. Linking graphics also reduces file size, which makes it friendlier for translation tools.

8. Master your Content Management System (CMS) – Every writer — technical or not — should be aware of the essentials required to make your CMS truly global, easily updatable, while helping to ensure version control. With various features on your CMS [mentioned on the blog], you’ll be ready to streamline your multilingual content workflows with your translation provider through automated, rule-based handoffs.


9. Get your files in order, and provide instructions – If you’re working outside the structured constraints of a CMS, keep your source files organized to make the translation process easier for you and your supplier. This will prevent needless organizational efforts across all languages and avoid administrative errors on both sides. Include all relevant files for translation in working condition, no extraneous or unused files, and use an ordered folder structure. When handing off files to your translation provider, be sure to define the scope of the project, tools and versions as well as the desired deliverables. Specify any information needed to generate deliverables including output format (PDFs, HTML, image types, etc.) and settings.

10. Think mobile - After all, it’s the future! And, in some circles, it’s the primary way business is conducted today. Many writers have already started adapting their style to the way people consume content on the mobile web — in bite-sized chunks. When creating or preparing text for foreign markets, it’s smart to start thinking about how much of your audience will be reading your content on their smartphone. In many cases, it’s a larger percentage than you think. Begin thinking about how this can impact the way you should craft your message now; it will likely mean a smoother translation and localization effort later.

More on: The Content Wrangler

Pablo Muñoz Sánchez on software and video game localization

From today's proz.com's news:

Last week the 4th International Media for All Conference – Audiovisual Translation: Taking Stock was held in London so I [Translator T.O., ed.] interviewed ProZ.com member Pablo Muñoz Sánchez to talk about this event and to learn more about his experience as a translator specializing in software and video game localization.

In this interview Pablo explains the benefits of specializing and how he decided on his areas of specialization. He talks about current trends in the video game localization industry such as fansub and audio description. After describing the current scenario for translators working on software and video game localization, Pablo provides some advice for those aspiring translators willing to specialize in video game and software localization.

You can listen to the interview in English here and in Spanish here.


Source: http://www.proz.com/translation-news/?p=30541

Saturday 2 July 2011

The future of translation (technology)

If you don't know Ray Kurzweil (US) yet, this might be the time to introduce him to you. Kurzweil has extensive expertise in fields as varied as "optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments", making him a possible consultant of a virtual merger of SciCom and MScTrans ;-). He has published several books on "health, artificial intelligence (AI), transhumanism, the technological singularity, and futurism." (I'm afraid the quotes are taken from the dreaded W). You can find an interview with Ray Kurzweil on the future of localisation and translation technology here.