MultiLingual is the leading source of information for the language industry and businesses with global communications needs. Published eight times a year plus an annual index/resource directory, it is read by more than 10,000 people in 85 countries. Information and current news are also provided by www.multilingual.com and the free electronic newsletter, MultiLingual News.
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Current Issue
January/February, 2012
Departments
Business
Crowdsourcing your localization testing
Doron Reuveni
Congratulations! If you’re trying to find the best way to test your web and mobile products for localization, it means your application was popular enough to warrant expansion into multiple markets. The need for localization testing is a mark of true success. Unfortunately, it’s also among the most difficult quality-related challenges to solve since it requires highly specialized skills from software-savvy native speakers who ...
Columns and Commentary
Katie Botkin
Drawing the old year to a close is always a bit bittersweet, and hence the nostalgic tradition of marking the new year with a chorus of “Auld Lang Syne.” And then we turn and look forward, toasting, in this case, 2012 -— a leap year that happens to be eschatologically interesting, which has also been designated Alan Turing Year, after ...
Enterprise Innovators: Automating Intel's multilingual chat
Lori Thicke
Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Founded in 1968 to build semiconductor memory products, Intel introduced the world’s first microprocessor in 1971. Today, Intel has over 82,000 employees globally. Based in Hillsboro, Oregon, Will Burgett is the product manager for Translation Innovation & Services in Marketing Solutions ...
Off the Map: Comparative cultural values
Kate Edwards
Whenever we travel to or experience other cultures, our ever-comparative brains look for similarities and differences and then weigh those against any potential emotions, memories and ideas we may already possess about a specific culture. The fact that we all do this is completely natural, and it’s built upon an innate sense of curiosity that we all possess in childhood ...
Perspectives: Cloud computing, SaaS and translation tools
Andrzej Zydroń
Over the past 20 years we have seen substantial progress in the field of computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools and technologies, and with the advent of cheap desktop computing and the internet we have seen the barriers to entry drop. To start a localization company, all you need is a PC, an internet connection and a list of potential ...
Takeaway: Managing a translator database
Daniel B. Harcz
Ever since I founded my small translation business around 1997, I have managed my agency’s freelancer database. I have always been proud of it, thanks to the fact that it contains the details of several thousand native freelancers representing a total of over 250 languages.
However, by the time you feel your translator database is complete ...
Reviews
Nancy A. Locke
The Interpreter’s Journal: Stories from a Thai and Lao Interpreter by Benjawan Poomsan Becker might be more aptly entitled An Interpreter’s Journal because it describes the unique experience of one interpreter, from her relatively humble beginnings in Isaan (Thailand) and study abroad experience in Japan, to her trials, personal and professional, in her adopted homeland (the United States), ...
Technology
Hassan Sawaf & Jonathan Litchman
Earlier this year on Jeopardy, IBM’s Watson won over $77,147 and showcased the latest advances in speech recognition and language technology with its answer to the Final Jeopardy question, “William Wilkinson’s ‘An account of the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia’ inspired this author’s most famous novel” with “Who is Bram Stoker?”
iPhone’s much-discussed Siri is not only ...
Machine translation for less-resourced languages
Andrejs Vasiļjevs & Indra Sāmīte
We have been witnesses to the evolution from human to machine-assisted translation. This is a propitious time for rapid advances in language technologies. We now have enough computing power to support the complex algorithms that drive statistical machine translation (SMT) and powerful open-source tools like Moses. In recent years, SMT has become a major developmental breakthrough by providing a cost-efficient ...
The translation center behind Translators without Borders
Enrique Cavalitto
A new, fully-automated translation center means that Translators without Borders can donate ten times as many translations to support humanitarian work around the globe. Translators without Borders is an independent nonprofit association dedicated to helping non-governmental organizations (NGOs) extend their humanitarian work by providing free, professional translations. The funds saved through the use of volunteer translations can then be used ...
Ten essential steps to TMS selection for LSPs
Benjamin B. Sargent & Vijayalaxmi Hegde
Companies adopt a translation management system (TMS) to address an array of challenges, but the selection process can be challenging in itself. It generally involves developing selection criteria, making a shortlist, identifying best-fit solutions using weighted business and technical requirements, and undergoing a proof-of-concept before making a final decision. This article provides a simple ten-step model ...
Cross-lingual text analytics: a new frontier in linguistics
Meta S. Brown
In Atlanta, a brand manager needs to know what consumers are saying about soft drinks in Thailand. In Washington, D.C., an intelligence agency analyst wonders if an international terrorist group is using twitter to organize a bombing. In Tokyo, electronics engineers want to better understand quality problems that are leading to product returns in North America. These diverse professionals share common concerns. Each of them needs ...
Localizing worldwide mobile apps
Talia Baruch
The urban nomad sounds familiar, almost like someone we’ve transformed into. We’re on the go, and we demand instant information anytime, anywhere. The urban nomad in us is never bound to one place. Wherever we are, across oceans and continents, our carry-on mobile device is our port of communication with the world around us. We pull it out to check our calendar, to interface with our connections, to play games, to purchase goods or just to slide-flick through our menu bar while we’re trapped in the elevator, trying to avoid ...