Fermina Daza, the main female character in the novel, has just married a physician, Juvenal Urbino. The novel’s narrator describes Fermina’s way of interacting with the world as a married woman: “Before she had been married a year, she moved through the world with the same assurance that had been hers as a little girl in the wilds of San Juan de la Ciénaga, as if she has been born with it, and she had a facility for dealing with strangers that left her husband dumbfounded, and a mysterious talent for making herself understood in Spanish with anyone, anywhere. ‘You have to know languages when you go to sell something,’ she said with mocking laughter. ‘But when you go to buy, everyone does what he must to understand you.’”

Because she has married well and has money to spend, Fermina realizes the power of the buyer. Her “mysterious talent for making herself understood in Spanish with anyone, anywhere” is really not so “mysterious” after all. Any potential seller to Fermina should realize the necessity of speaking her language — Spanish — if a business transaction will take place. That is why Fermina says with “mocking laughter” that “you have to know languages when you go to sell something.” Notice the word is sell, not buy. As a buyer, Fermina can make herself understood in Spanish, remaining within the comfort zone of her native language.

But if Fermina were to change positions and become a seller, then her Spanish would not be enough if she moved into markets in other countries. This situation brings to mind the oft-quoted remark by Willy Brandt, former German chancellor (1969-1974): “If I’m selling to you, I speak your language. If I’m buying, dann müssen Sie Deutsch sprechen [then you must speak German].” Fermina knows this — the different roles that language plays if one is a seller or a buyer. Not a bad insight from a novel written over 20 years ago!

A Cellphone’s Missing Dot Kills Two People, Puts Three More in Jail

The local press say:

The local press has pointed out that the faulty localization of cellphones in Turkey is causing “serious problems” when it comes to certain “delicate words” in Turkish, and they are calling to enhance localization of technology to avoid these mistakes.

Actually, I’d put this down more as an internationalization problem, than one of localization. Either way, it might have been a lot more sensible to have logged a bug against the cell phone manufacturer.

But is this “semiglobalization” really a revelation to anyone? The people who will read this book will be aware of the semiglobalization (semi? You’re joking) premise already. None of the fancy terminology or models will cut any ice in the boardroom when it comes to obtaining budgets for localization anymore than a PowerPoint slide that says “Pope Not Protestant” and “Bears Spurn J C Decaux Stock Issue”. Does anyone really buy into that EEC/EC/EU old guff about eliminating restrictions on movement of labour and capital and the equalization of taxes and removal of barriers to competition anymore?

Ever tried buying a car in the UK and importing it into the Republic Ireland because it was cheaper to do so? You’re hit with a massive vehicle registration tax by the Irish government. Or try buying an iPhone in the Republic of Ireland and then the same phone 10 yards up the road in Northern Ireland, or in another EU state. Or buying songs from iTunes in different parts of Europe. Consider what’s being revealed by the Tolkienesque Olympic Torch garbage. Or what’s still going on in Balkans. Or what Bono and Bob Geldof are always banging on about.

I was reminded of all this globalization stuff yesterday as my hired car took me to Rajiv Ghandi International Airport in Hyderabad. Passing thousands – and I mean thousands – of people living like dogs on the side of street in cardboard boxes and abandoned earthmover tires is something I’ll bear in mind the next time I’m told the world is “flat”. I’ll remind the source that anyone who calls a spade a spade should be compelled to use one (apologies to Oscar Wilde).

Watch out for my review of Ghemawat’s book in the magazine soon.

* © Copyright 2007, 2008, kisstheblarneystone productions

As far back as 1882, there was an attempt to create an Indian-English dictionary (Hobson-Jobson by Yule and Burnell), which noted:

The words which we have to do taking the the most extensive view of the field are in face organic remains deposited under the various currents of external influence that have washed the shores of India during twenty centuries and more.

Written in a highly entertaining style too.

This reminds me that court room interpretation in Ireland can be problematic even when English is involved. Quite recently a Chinese lady was in court, on the east coast of Ireland, over a traffic accident when her car had collided with a telegraph pole. On hearing that she had struck a pole, the judge questioned her: “And did you make any effort to apologize to the Polish gentleman concerned?”

That said, very often media criticism of public sector translation and interpretation owes more to political bias and prejudice than to any concerns with transparency into costs and value for money. However, there are times, when you have got to wonder....

I’m sorry, but that’s not worth paying for. Unless it’s coming out of the mouth of Mike Myers in the next Austin Powers movie..

T&I Business is a link well worth adding into your Blog Roll.

Brian tells us:

With Der Mundo, it’s easy to sign up and start writing. The service auto-detects the reader’s language preferences and displays translations if present, or invites them to contribute. You can use it as a standalone service, or export RSS to your favorite publishing system.

I’ve signed us up for it - and will revisit as soon as this work stuff is out of the way...

As for Klingon...

I expressed the fear about switching to a Web 2.0 participative community model of translation based on the analogy of throwing a party and nobody turns up. Janice countered this by asking how we’d feel if we were invited to a party and there was no food, drink, or host present. A really great point.

Seems like the real question is how to create, foster yes, even manage community-based contributions to the translation effort so that it scales and is persistent over time. Could there be a relationship between the type of company and nature of its products and the long-term success of the model? Comments welcome.

Very often, senior - and not so senior - management see community translation as a free option, which is the wrong way to approach this. But then, we’ve also seen how the cost-savings aspect of the outsourcing model has come back to bite many an executive in the rear.