In this central Mongolian province, Ankhbayar provides for his young family running a taxi service and fitness center.

With his Kiva loan, gathered from many different donors, Ankhbayar will be purchasing equipment for his fitness club.

We wish him the best of luck.

pic by mfilej

I’ll just go ahead and start by saying I am a tweeter. That’s right, I’m on twitter, exchanging comments and links and asking questions at the virtual water cooler that is twitter. My inner child loves it, but I do have professional reasons for tweeting.

Some of the best articles on freelancing, small business, and the translation industry in general come to me via twitter from–not shocking–other professional translators. And we are a helpful lot! If you need help, tweet your issue and see what happens.

I found a hash dictionary to help us find colleagues.

Here are some of the hashes translators are adding to their tweets as markers. If you know of more, please share!

#xl8: stands for “translate”, is used by people in the translation industry when discussing issues related to translation and localization.

#translating: essentially the same as #xl8, but longer and so not used as frequently. This hashtag can be useful when actually using the word “translating” in a tweet;

#t9n: which stands for “translation” and can be used in the same way as #xl8 or when using this abbreviated form of the word “translation” in a tweet;

#l10n: which stands for “localization” and is used when tweeting about the localization industry (see also #i18n below for localization specific to computers and software);

#i18n: which stands for internationalization;

#g11n: which stands for globalization, but is often used with essentially the same meaning as #i18n.

Don’t forget to share any other translation-related hashes you know. Thanks

Originally Posted by Laura Tamayo on September 7, 2009 at Mark it Right

Oh, and you can follow Tanit on twitter!

It’s hard to believe that Douchka and I were at a virtual conference all day. The time went by pretty fast. This particular conference is the first virtual conference launched by Proz. Here’s some feedback for all interested.

Liked

Presentation topics were well chosen, as were the presenters. I especially like that each presenter had a different style. For an all day conference, especially a virtual one, variety was important in keeping us engaged.

Moderators were quick to respond to all sorts of questions, and they actively participated in general conversation. This created a very inviting atmosphere.

Disliked

The Lounge chat window was too small! It updated quickly. With so many participants, it was sometimes difficult to respond to people.

Also in the Lounge, the format of the forums wasn’t very conducive to interacting much.

Overall Opinion

I enjoyed the conference. Proz did a nice job organizing the event, and communicating with moderators, translators, and vendors was easy.

I would have liked a few more talks. Yes, it was a full day, but there are some presentations that were of less interest to me. It would have been nice to have the option to listen to a different talk in the same time slot. As it was, I simply returned to the Lounge or browsed the Exhibition Hall.

This first conference was a success. We made great contacts and enjoyed ourselves. I’m sure we will attend in 2010.

The Kyanzire Hiv/Aids Association Group we are sponsoring through Kiva has their funding! There are 17 members in the group. Here’s some information on their fearless leader, as posted by Kiva.

Zaida Korugyendo is the leader of this borrower group.

Zaida is 49 years old and is a friendly lady who runs a business of selling goats in Kashenshero Ruhinda County. She is married and has four children, ages 12, 15, 18, and 21, and she also cares for one orphan.

Zaida has been in business for five years and the loans have allowed her increase her stock of goats in the farm. She is good at her work in animal sales and is able to make a weekly profit of approximately 60,000 [UGX]. This enables her to support her family, pay her children’s school fees, buy food and clothing, and pay health care costs.

Zaida’s plan is to turn her business into a permanent one with a fixed location where her customers can come directly to purchase goats. She also strives to have a permanent house for her family as well as ensuring that her children receive the best education possible. She will use this loan to bring her closer to these goals, particularly by purchasing more goats so as to increase profits, which she will use to improve the welfare of her family.”

Just a note, UGX stands for Ugandan shilling.

They have 29 days to raise their funds. For those inclined to help them and other entrepreneurs make it to the finish line, you can donate here:

(For comments click on post title.)

Deciphering language involves understanding so much more than words or strings of words. There’s a question of context. And in translation, there are two large frames to work with, one for each language.

Original texts need to be understood in terms of their cultural reality. There’s a world of difference between “Yeah right” and “Yeah! Right!” And that difference isn’t just punctuation.

Who is saying these?

• A sarcastic corporate?
• A cartoon superhero?
• An angry teenager?

And who is on the receiving end?

• A cashier?
• A religious figure?
• A postal worker?

Determining this much about the original text is only the beginning. When translating, the words have to be right… but so does the sociocultural understanding of those words. The easiest example is considering the translation of a play on words.

Let’s look at Pino Tile& Carpet. Their tagline reads “The Best Floor Show in Town.”

Catchy, huh? Getting it into a second language is tricky, though. What makes the play on words work is the word floor; and the floor part of floor show is precisely the one lost in translation for Spanish, Italian, French, German, Russian… and many more languages.

The translation is a transcreation at this point; one that has to capture the sparkle of the term “floor show” and the connection to flooring products and services.

And it’s at this point that our creative professional team roles it’s sleeves up. There’s nothing we love more as language professionals than playing with words!

(For comments click on post title.)

Surely you value human translation–who else to communicate between humans than another human?

But the temptation for tight-budget ventures to use an autotranslator is still there… teasing you. Perhaps some translation funnies will inspire you to resist and reconsider.

Autotranslation results

We take care of the service in its address without extra position.

The equipment that comprises of the company/signature is a human equipment, dynamic and young.

Original

Atendemos el servicio en su domicilio sin cargo extra.

El equipo que forma parte de la firma es un equipo humano, dinámico y joven.

Human Translation

We deliver to your address at no extra charge.

The team that makes up the firm is understanding, dynamic, and young.

Your markets are less and less segmented by established boundaries, like those that define states or countries. With ever increasing globalization trends, your local clients are from many places and your overall client base can be anywhere and everywhere.

When you’re ready to reach those varied clients and broaden your resources, Tanit is here to help you take your message across cultures.

Translation *   Transcreation *  Proofreading

Copyediting *   Copywriting

DTP *   Interpretation *   Voice Over

We aim to promote clear communication that strengthens human interactions. To you, that means a language services partner that understands the importance of proper context and cultural nuances.

Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow.

–Oliver Wendell Holmes