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Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Google releases MT and Lang Detection API

I see from the Google Official Blog that they’ve rolled out something called the “Google AJAX Language API - Tools for translation and language detection”.

You can read more about it here.

Although the tool release is aimed at developers, giving them the capability to “translate and detect the language of blocks of text within a webpage using only Javascript”, it will be interesting to see where this leaves Google’s much vaunted “volunteer” translation effort for “other” languages.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Facebook now in German

The German translation of Facebook has been launched.

According to TechCrunch the translation involved 2,000 volunteer translators. The Spanish translation was launched last month, and involved 1,500.

The article contains an interesting contrast in the approaches adopted by Facebook and their competitor MySpace to getting translated versions and local content out there.

Hat tip: Global By Design

Watch out for the French launch soon.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Bank of Ireland Should Meet Usability & Localization Requirements Together

I connected to my Bank of Ireland site today, and spent 30 seconds trying to login.

Why? Because the order of options on the left has changed to accommodate the introduction of localized training and options for Chinese and Polish users. I was used to Login being the first menu option. Nothing wrong with providing localized content, but couldn’t they have accommodated both needs by leaving Login at the top of the menu or repeating it on the toolbar? The degradation of usability of course is going to impact usage of the uptake of the site’s service in every language, so how BoI can isolate one impact from another beats me.

Incidentally, where is the Irish language option?

Monday, January 28, 2008

Irish Translated At 13,000 Euros Per Minute

From the Irish Examiner: “an Irish-language option across all EU institutions is estimated to cost in the region of €3.5 million each year. Parliamentary translation cost €360,000 last year, meaning each minute an Irish MEP chose the medium of our first language (about 30 minutes in total last year) cost €13,000 (over $19,000 at today’s rate).”

It seems that there are four Irish language interpreters working at the EU parlianment, two at a time, two shifts per days, and the parliament sits 10 days in each month. “Those interpreters cost €30,000 a month, which is paid by the EU with contributions from member states, including Ireland.” says the Examiner. Two are always in duty “in case a situation develops where parliamentary protagonists decide to confront each other using Irish.”

Excuse me?

Can I suggest the next time Ireland’s MEPs decide to confront each other using Irish that the cost of interpreting be the subject of the debate? That should drive the unit cost down a good bit.

This really is stretching the definition of minority language beyond breaking point.

Come to think of it - knowing the EU - how come it’s so cheap?

Saturday, January 12, 2008

2008, Año Internacional de los Idiomas

The UN has declared 2008 as The International Year of Languages, with UNESCO as lead agency.

According to the UNESCO website:

To celebrate the International Year of Languages, UNESCO invites governments, United Nations organizations, civil society organizations, educational institutions, professional associations and all other stakeholders to increase their own activities to promote and protect all languages, particularly endangered languages, in all individual and collective contexts.

A link to the list of projects is posted. However, there are none listed. Let’s hope this changes soon.

Hat tip: Kristen St Thomas of the Facebook Software Localization group.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Dublin City University Leads Way In Automatic Language Translation

I see that DCU have announced a 5-year research program to develop the next generation of “automatic language translation”.

The project involves “UCD (that’s University College Dublin, not UC Davis), UL (University of Limerick) and TCD (Trinity College Dublin), and with renowned global technology leaders, IBM, Microsoft, Symantec, Dai Nippon Printing, and Idiom Technologies as well as key Irish SMEs, Alchemy, VistaTech, SpeechStorm and Traslan.” We’re told it aims to address three critical problems for L10n:

"Volume: The amount of content to be translated and localized to the destination culture and environment is growing rapidly and massively outstrips the supply of human translators.
Access: Powerful, small devices such as mobile phones and PDAs require novel technologies integrating speech and text to support “on the move” delivery of, and access to multilingual information.
Personalization : A new demand has rapidly emerged for the adaptation of a huge amount of multilingual content now available on the web, for individual needs . It needs “instant” localization and personalization to meet the demands of the users."

This is great news indeed, and a tribute to academic-industry collaboration.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Global English?

The Financial Times has comprehensive article on the global use of the English language. I recommend all localization-industry chanters of “EJAL” (English is Just Another Language) read it immediately.

The article tells us that:

The reason millions are learning it is simple: it is the language of international business and therefore the key to prosperity. It is not just that Microsoft, Google and Vodafone conduct their business in English; it is the language in which Chinese speak to Brazilians and Germans to Indonesians.

What’s interesting is that the linguistic dynamics between the notion of native and non-native speakers are clearly changing too.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

MySpace Localization and Local Sites Battle It Out

The Financial Times is reporting that whereas MySpace is planning to add more language versions, local social networking operations are holding their own.

MySpace is planning to add locally-targeted sites in Brazil, India, Poland and Russia, adding to the 24 in 20 countries, in 12 languages, including French, German and Japanese, that they already have.

Overall though, it seems like there is still great scope for expansion globally. The FT tells us:

"In the US about 18 per cent of internet users use a social networking site. Across Europe, for example, the figure is just 14 per cent."

Interestingly, although MySpace is the largest provider overall in Europe, at country-level a different picture emerges. In France, for example, local offering SkyRock still dominates. 

Other services from Orkut.com, Grono.net, and MoiKrug.ru will ensure that MySpace’s venture into these new languages will be an extremely competitive one.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Tu Nombre en Japones

According to the official Google Blog, “Tu Nombre en Japonés” is one of the Top 20 iGoogle gadgets in Chile and Spain. My name comes out as:  うるたん おぶろいん

iGoogle is now available in 42 languages, which means that “99% of Internet users can take advantage of ... features in their native language.” according to the blog.

Global by Design also cover the story - in more detail.

Why not try the “Tu Nombre en Japonés” app? It’s cool!

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Irish Grammar Must Improve Say EUrocrats

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. The European Commission has told the Irish to brush up on the Irish language (Gaeilge) grammar rules or else the language risks losing its newly acquired official EU language status. Plus, there are problems in hiring qualified translators.

The Irish Times of 12-October-2007 tells us that that the EU Commissioner for Multilingualism, Leonard Orban, says a “new edition of the (Irish Language) official grammar has not been published for years and the current edition is out of print” and that this “ is causing some confusion among translators, in-house and freelance alike, and adding to the institutions’ workload.”

Meanwhile, the Irish say “we are determined to defend the right of languages at community level,” (Ultan translates: “Er, we’re making kids learn it in school - even if they don’t want to - and arguing over the translation of place names).

Seems like there aren’t enough properly qualified Gaeilge translators to meet demand and no official training course for Gaeilge interpreters either. Gaeilge EU translation volumes are high (EU law is about 100,000 pages) and project management has failed; annual Gaeilge translation requirements were underestimated by 100%.

Incidentally, back in the real world, there is a great article on Localization in Irish by Michal Boleslav Měchura in the current (#91 Volume 18 Issue 7 ) issue of Multilingual magazine. Check it out!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Languages Dying Out

This Associated Press report reminds us that of approximately the 7,000 languages spoken around the world today. One language dies out about every two weeks. There are five geographical danger areas for this depressing phenomenon.

The five areas were identified by the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages and the National Geographic Society. They are:

* Northern Australia: 153 languages.
* Central South America (including Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Bolivia): 113 languages.
* Northwest Pacific Plateau (including British Columbia in Canada and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon): 54 languages.
* Eastern Siberian Russia, China, Japan: 23 languages.
* Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico: 40 languages.

Source: AP. Read the full report.

Languages are more endangered than plant and animal species, the experts tell us. The 83 most widely spoken languages account for about 80 percent of the world’s population while the 3,500 smallest languages account for just 0.2 percent. It’s good to be reminded of those languages that we never hear spoken ourselves or don’t have a professional involvement with.

I wonder could technology help revitalize the endangered languages and foster more speakers?

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Google Chinese Social Networking

Reuters are reporting that “Google revealed on Monday that it had acquired a stake in Chinese community Web site Tianya.cn.”

This is hardly surprising give the size of the Chinese market, and the need for Google to catch Baidu.com, which dominates the Chinese search market.

Reuters report:

Venture capital investment in Chinese social networking sites has bloomed since Google bought top online video-sharing site YouTube for $1.65 billion (830.4 million pounds) late last year.

Again, a good indication that this Web 2.0 thing is a global construct. See my Takeaway piece in Multilingual for more insights into how I think Web 2.0 will end organized localization as we know it.

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