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Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Mental Acculturation

The world flattens by means of technology, brand names, and apparently even psychology, according to the New York Times: 

"Behind the promotion of Western ideas of mental health and healing lie a variety of cultural assumptions about human nature. Westerners share, for instance, evolving beliefs about what type of life event is likely to make one psychologically traumatized, and we agree that venting emotions by talking is more healthy than stoic silence. We’ve come to agree that the human mind is rather fragile and that it is best to consider many emotional experiences and mental states as illnesses that require professional intervention. (The National Institute of Mental Health reports that a quarter of Americans have diagnosable mental illnesses each year.) The ideas we export often have at their heart a particularly American brand of hyperintrospection — a penchant for ‘psychologizing’ daily existence. These ideas remain deeply influenced by the Cartesian split between the mind and the body, the Freudian duality between the conscious and unconscious, as well as the many self-help philosophies and schools of therapy that have encouraged Americans to separate the health of the individual from the health of the group. These Western ideas of the mind are proving as seductive to the rest of the world as fast food and rap music, and we are spreading them with speed and vigor.”

If Western ideas about the mind so easily creep into the subconscious of the rest of the world, what other cultural mentalities will drift away with time and globalization?

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

The Secret Language of ... Elephants

The Elephant Listening Project is putting elephant sounds together with behavior to create an elephant language dictionary.

CBS’s “Sixty Minutes” just ran a segment (video also available) on the central African forest elephants. The segment profiles Andrea Turkalo’s two decades of observing these elephants, and categorizing their sounds and actions. Many of the sounds are at levels below the pitches that humans can hear.

The Elephant Listening Project is associated with the Bioacoustics Research Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York. Cornell University researcher Katy Payne began the Elephant Listening Project. She’s building an “elephant dictionary” that might help researchers learn how many elephants there are in an area, how they interact, what they’re doing—and if they’re reproducing. Turkalo frequently travels to Cornell to present data and observations from her work in the field.

(© Andrea Turkalo)

The “elephant dictionary” itself is in its infancy and work continues. The good side effect of this is that at least this particular batch of elephants has escaped poachers due to the fact that others are watching them.

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

It's all relative

What is wrong with the following sentence (other than the obvious heartbreak): “The thing is, is John just doesn’t love me anymore” ?

It’s the fake relative pronoun. A relative pronoun, obviously, is a word that begins a relative clause. In the sentence just previous to this one, the word is “that;” essentially, this pronoun melds two sentences, “a relative pronoun is a word” and “the word connects two relative clauses,” into one. Other such pronouns in modern English usage are who, whom, whose and which, as you no doubt know from grammar class.

Correctly, the opening example should be “the thing is that John doesn’t love me,” or merely the invisible “the thing is, John doesn’t love me.” Over the years, however, I’ve noticed people inserting an extra “is” in sentences like this because their brain tells them (assumedly) that something is missing from the more natural, more colloquial relative clause “, John doesn’t love me.” In many languages, one needs a relative pronoun at all times; it is not optional (C’est que John me n’aime plus) like it sometimes is in English. This option appears to cause confusion. Should there be something more? What if we just repeat “is”?

In the end I can’t pretend to know the motivation of the human brain, but I do find this phenomenon interesting. I predict that in the future, we may begin to see “is” labeled as a dialectical relative pronoun, much like the “what” found, for example, in archaic rural outposts of the UK: “The boy what eats more meat gets more dessert!”

As a side note, from the quick search I did on the internet, I did not see any research on this subject. I’m totally calling it, then.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Making up language

Vanity Fair, that bastion of linguistic knowledge, recently published an article on the creation of Na’vi, a constructed “alien” language used in the upcoming $400 million flick Avatar. There’s a bit of phonetic explanation, though not much, and a sound clip. I’m quite curious how linguist Paul Frommer came up with his linguistic hodge-podge; director James Cameron apparently told him he wanted it to be both exotic and pleasant, and gave Frommer some Na’vi names he’d already come up with. Browsing further articles didn’t turn up much detailing Frommer’s inspiration, though Wikipedia explains the basic construction rather well.

Typically, of course, languages develop in context, just as they are learned in context. This did actually happen occasionally even in this constructed language, as Frommer explains in the Vanity Fair article.

To some extent, new language creeps into being all the time. This year, for example, “unfriend" was officially recognized in English. Language evolves with the times and technology.

And also with the subculture. I had the strange experience of growing up in a rural microculture of ten souls: me, my four siblings, and the five children we played with. Somehow we invented our own words to keep the peace, the most important of which sounded something like “ught.” If someone said this word, everyone else had to shut up and listen. If you “broke ught,” everyone else looked at you like you were evil (In retrospect, this sounds disturbingly like the conch in Lord of the Flies, but fortunately our microculture remained entrenched in the rules rather than fragmenting into anarchy. Maybe this was because of the ten, six of us were girls, and our parents were never that far away).

Monday, December 14, 2009

Love by any other name

A rose by any other name would be as sweet, Shakespeare tells us, but not everyone agrees. An NY Times article sent in by an alert reader tells a different tale: words in other languages just may not mean as much to everyone. 

As someone who generally feels at ease in cultures not my own, I’m trying to weigh this, ask if it is true. On some level, I have to say that it is: culturally, things get lost in translation; I remember consistently being confused when I asked a foreigner if he wanted to do this or that, and his reply was “that’s Ok.” To his ear, this meant a polite yes; to mine, it meant a polite no.

But that’s simple lack of idiomatic translation. The idea that words mean less when they’re not in the language of your upbringing goes further. And I’m not sure I completely agree. I was perhaps more thrilled, not less, to be told affectionately “Je t’aime bien,” by a friend in France than I would be by a friend in the States saying the (more or less) equivalent “I love you, man.” A language not your own may still work its way deep into your heart. Sometimes it is merely by virtue of the fact that the person speaking the language is beloved; to hear “I love you” in any language, spoken with sincerity, is extremely moving as long as the translation is known. One watches the eyes, the voice, the intention, the kept promise, more than one watches the cultural diction. It’s amazing, really, how similar each culture’s facial expressions and moral tenants are (a frown is bad, a laugh is good, deception is bad, generosity is good).

And perhaps that’s this writer’s dilemma: doubting love (or anything) not because of language, but because of those unexpressed things, those nonverbals. Is an apparent lack of commitment real lack of commitment, or is it mere cultural rote? Does she doubt him because they don’t speak the same native language, or because he isn’t trustworthy?

This could apply to business as well as personal life, and the added obstacle here is our cultural delicacy — or indelicacy. We may be too PC to inquire into something we suspect might just be cultural difference, for example, and get cheated on a business deal. We may be too callous or xenophobic, and end up offending a potential business partner.

Whatever the case, language and culture continue to fascinate us and continue to demand education and better idiomatic translation, better localization. Making sure your actions match your words certainly doesn’t hurt in anyplace I’ve ever heard of, either.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Language -- what we have in common?

Once thought of differentiator between humans and other animals, perhaps we are now learning that language is something we have in common.

The New York Times reports from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that a study of monkeys in Africa finds them putting conditional suffixes on sounds—or shall we say words? Klaus Zuberbühler and researchers previously identified sounds with meanings when studying Campbell’s monkeys in the Tai National Park of the Ivory Coast. They now have shown that the monkeys modify their sounds to communicate further refinements of the sound meanings.

Now, I know that some suffixes on sounds are a far cry from Shakespeare, but it’s fun to realize that these guys have been communicating quite well while we assumed, in our hubris, that such communication was ours alone.

Sunday, December 06, 2009

A Language Gap: Kurdish and Arabic

Recent reports from the Iraq Programme of the Institute of War & Peace Reporting indicate a continuing language problem between Arabic-speaking Iraq and its Kurdish-speaking neighbors.

“Though they share the same country, Arabs and Kurds know little of each other’s history and even less today of each other’s languages,” writes Husam al-Saray, a journalist in Baghdad. “Their shared legacy of revolts against colonial Britain lies long forgotten amid a simmering internal conflict over land and resources.”

Under the Iraqi constitution Arabs and Kurds have equal rights as citizens. Both languages must be taught in all Iraqi schools. But few young Kurds speak Arabic, and even fewer young Arabs learn Kurdish.

Signs on roads and official buildings in each region tend to be either in Arabic or in Kurdish, rarely both. If a second language is used, it is usually English.

Journalist Najeeba Mohammed in Erbil reports the number of Kurds who can speak Arabic fluently is rapidly shrinking, and analysts say the next generation of Kurdish leaders could be compromised by their lack of fluent Arabic.

Some 44 of 21,635 schools in Kurdistan offer education in Arabic at present, according to government figures. Many private language academies have popped up in the region, and English courses appear to be the most popular.

For the whole story, see IRAQI CRISIS REPORT, No. 306: http://iwpr.net/iraq

Saturday, December 05, 2009

If only they had iPhones on the Titanic

One of the Multilingual features I enjoy is “Off The Map” by Tom Edwards. In the current issue, Tom writes about “Geopolitical correctness,” and I was reminded of Tom’s articles when I took a look at the data being used by my Accuweather iPhone app today (the app is free from the iTunes app store.)

Why, it’s using pre-Irish Independence (1922) placenames for Irish locations. I was able to find up-to-date weather information, including weather satellite maps for such places as “Kingstown” (Dún Laoghaire), “Maryborough” (Portlaoise), Philipstown (Daingean) and other distinctly er, royalist-sounding places.

Even “Queenstown” is there! That’s now called Cobh. It’s the place the Titanic called to before setting off on the final stage of its tragic journey in 1912. If only they had iPhones on board, they could not only have checked the Queenstown weather but they might have also seen the #icebergalert warning on Tweetie.

I cannot help but wonder where the Accuweather folks got this ancient data from. It’s a major localization and cultural error. Names of places in Ireland have all kinds of political as well as cultural and historic significance.

I wouldn’t mind, but there isn’t even a “Weather Conditions for Potato Famine Imminent” alarm. At least the Accuweather people could have been historically consistent with the feature set. Maybe Tom can add this one to his list for future articles!

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Lost in localization

Maziar Bahari was imprisoned for interview on The Daily Show.

Maziar Bahari is a Canadian Iranian journalist. He was interviewed by Jason Jones of “The Daily Show” when Jones was in Iran during the upheaval earlier this year. If you are not familiar with “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”, it is a US-based satirical look at the news. It should say enough about the show that it is aired on a network called “Comedy Central”.

After the interview, the segment was evidently not localized well enough. Or perhaps not at all, and someone watching it could not detect irony in another language. Whatever the reason, Bahari was arrested and jailed for espionage for 118 days. His account of this is in the current Newsweek. He was interviewed on The Daily Show about his incarceration.  The video below is blocked outside the United States. If you are unable to see it, please check out a commentary on the exchange at Mediaiate.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Maziar Bahari
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Somes comedy—and always localization—is serious stuff.

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Microsoft Word 2010 Translation

"Learn how you can translate entire documents easily with Microsoft Word 2010 Translation features by watching this quick tutorial,” claims a recently-posted video on Windows 7 Forums.

The video shows just how easy this is. You click “translate” and the pop-up notification warns (as you can see if you hit pause on this video): “Word is about to send the document for translation over the Internet in unencrypted HTML format. It will be translated by the Microsoft Translator service…. Do you want to continue?”

Office 2010 is not being released for a few more months, but the beta was available until the end of October. Has anyone tried using this? If so, what are your opinions? And is the Microsoft Translator service this references the 2007 MT solution or has it evolved significantly? 

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Facebook I18N: Way More Than A Token Gesture

Tokens (markers that are replaced at run-time by other text or values) in strings can be the bane of a translator’s life if used incorrectly because they frustrate a correct translation being made. However, I love the way that the Facebook translation tool allows you to comment on their use as you translate. 

Looking at the options below for commenting on token use is an education in itself (the tokens concerned are {number} and {chat-service-name}).

This approach allows users to comment as much on the effectiveness of the internationalization (i18n) practice as on the quality of the translation.

Facebook’s internationalization best practices for developers are here.

Facebook: Available in How Many Languages?

I’m sure we’re all very familiar with the vaunted Facebook crowdsourcing translation model by now. It’s been central to Facebook’s phenomenal international growth, and it’s a fantastic innovation even subject to a U.S. patent application. Anyone who supports the global sharing of information can only but admire what Facebook have done, meself included!

But I’m stuck here. Maybe you can help me?

As a user experience (UX) professional, I can see how allowing users to translate their own content can be part of a compelling engagement strategy, and within that context I would have thought the entire user experience should be in the user’s language, not just part of it.

So, then, why is it that when we constantly read that Facebook is available in 65, 70, 80, whatever number of languages, we can find that the Facebook help is available in less than 10? Here is what Irish language (Gaeilge) users see under Help:

Is it because:
a) The Facebook crowdsourcing translation tool doesn’t allow the help strings to be translated?
b) Facebook users don’t want to translate help because they don’t like or need it, or doing so just ain’t cool (or easy) anyway?
or
c) There’s a whole bunch of places out there populated by people way way smarter than others and they don’t need help in their own language?

As a localization professional working according to budget, I was sometimes faced with the prospect of having to preside over a localization plan where help or doc not included and left in English (actually, Facebook doesn’t seem to allow users who switch their language to one where no help translation is available an option to read help in English instead). I wondered: if this approach was acceptable then why the help was written in English in the first place?

For me, partial localization is fine if the market and user experience accepts it, of course, though it’s clear that for some cultures doing so is a negative experience.

But what’s going on with community translation of user assistance like help?

Answers to the organizers of the next localization or UX conference, anywhere, please.

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• Mental Acculturation
• The Secret Language of ... Elephants
• It's all relative
• Making up language
• Love by any other name
• Language -- what we have in common?
• A Language Gap: Kurdish and Arabic
• If only they had iPhones on the Titanic
• Lost in localization
• Microsoft Word 2010 Translation

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