Neural Machine Translation and Models with Attention

Translation memory should be a standard part of your translator’s set of tools.

Do you do business internationally? Do you regularly use translators for your content? Are you familiar with the term, translation memory?

If not, then you need to check your wallet, the family jewels, and your fillings. You, my friend, might be getting robbed.

What is a translation memory? (TM)

Translation memory is a database, or collection, of previously translated word segments. These can be complete sentences, paragraphs, or sentence-like units such as headings, titles or list elements. The translation memory maintains a record of each instance of a source language and its corresponding translation. These language pairs are called ‘translation units’. When a human translator uses translation memory she can be informed when a previously translated segment has been detected.

When MotaWord’s system has a client where there is translation memory (we’d need to have done prior translations for you in order to generate this database) we can both speed the latest translation and, at the same time, possibly discount the price of this translation. That’s because we don’t charge twice to translate the same phrase or sentence.

If you use translators who don’t explicitly tell you that they use translation memory, they might be billing you multiple times for the same sentences or phrases. You don’t have to accept that anymore.

But that’s not as strange as you might think and it doesn’t mean your translators are bad people. In days of yore, when the scribe was taking dictation and re-inking their quill pen as you dropped your pearls of wisdom, every piece of content was unique. The bilingual scribes were translating each work as a stand-alone piece. There was no such thing as translation memory.

And some translators or agencies still follow these practices. (maybe not the quill pen part) But why work with translators who don’t use a widely adopted translation tool? Don’t hire them. That would be akin to hiring a carpenter who doesn’t use power tools.

MotaWord’s loyal clients benefit from faster, more accurate and economical translations. The content of their translation memory is never shared or used for any other purpose and can be downloaded whenever they wish.

For more on Translation Memory (TM) and how MotaWord provides clients greater value, read What Is Translation Memory

And watch What is Translation Memory? - Translation 101

There's more to know about choosing a translation company. Read, Choosing a Translation Agency: What You Need To Know

MotaWord Founder Evren Ay answers the questions that MotaWord proofreaders asked on November 6, 2019

Published on Nov 14, 2019

by Evren Ay

How do we spell check on MotaWord? What more can be done to unify the tone of voice in MotaWord projects? Can the "Review" page be printed? How can it be improved? These questions are answered in this video. You can follow through the provided script for quick answers or watch the video directly.

You can review the answers and also use the links in this article - ODE TO MY SPELLCHECKER (AND WHY TRANSLATION IS BETTER WHEN IT IS DONE BY PEOPLE) to learn how to turn on your spell check function in your browser.

Here is the full script of the video:

0:07.9 What are we here to talk about today?

Well, we are here to gather a lot more content for you, but no, we are here to talk about the questions that our proofreaders asked in the last week's proofreader session. We basically started having these sessions where Oytun and I sit with our proofreaders and answer any of their questions. And there are some questions where they ask us "our favorite colors" but there are other questions where it is relevant to other proofreaders so we are here to answer those. And you have a list of the questions so feel free to ask those and I'll just answer them.

0:44.8 So we'll jump in, proofreader Cassio asks "How do you use spell check in MotaWord projects?"

Well, MotaWord is a translation system that uses the full power of your browser. That means that it also uses the spellchecker of your browser. Whatever browser you use, be it Chrome, Safari, Edge (used to be Microsoft Internet Explorer) now it is called Edge, MotaWord would basically use the spell check of your browser and I would wholeheartedly recommend that you actually allow your spell check - typos are a really serious mistake on our platform that we do not like seeing and I know for a fact that our clients do not like seeing. What we are going to do is, in this article, for example, we'll put a link on how to install the spell check on every major browser so that anybody who has a question like that can just click on the link, follow the prompts and ensure that their spell-check functions perfectly on their browser.

So spellcheck is available on MotaWord, it is through the browser and you can actually install it on your browser and use it.

2:02.5 Isabel asks, or maybe suggests, "It would be a great idea to make the tone of the translation visible at all times in the translation platform since this important information is usually lost in big style guides or does not appear there at all. Whenever this is not clear (sometimes text and context don’t help), proofreaders find both tones mixed and often spend more time than necessary amending something that could be prevented easily." What are your thoughts on that?

Consistency and the style of translation are really important and they change based on the needs of the client. So one of our clients which is Iron Mountain that is getting their HR or security documents translated through us has a different tone of voice that they need their translations in, as opposed to let's say a gaming company, like Electronic Arts that may need a more informal type of translation done. So, we rely on the style guides that we prepare with the client in order to respect that tone of voice, plus we rely on the glossaries.

3:16.5 Laura asks, "Is there a way to improve the 'Review' page, or to print it? It is sometimes hard to view the source document and the translated one and check that everything is OK. The characters are too small."

This sounds like a UI issue. It is, it is. I remember answering this question during the meeting and this is actually something that we answer on the intercom, when some proofreaders tell us they cannot see the review page.

Let me first answer the first part of this question. Number 1, there is absolutely no way to print the review page. We do not allow it for a very simple reason, it is our solemn promise to our clients that none of our translators or none of our contributors for anything - even our project managers, etc., they do not have a full copy of the documents to share, to do anything they want with... So printing is out of the question, copy/pasting is out of the question, those are things that we do not allow. But as far as getting the review page seen, in certain projects, it is not totally necessary. For example, if the document that we are translating, or the content that we are translating is an Excel file, the preview page or the review page would be really short, small and would be quite unnecessary because our translation editor would show those strings. If the document that we are translating is an Excel file, it is much preferable to use the Translation Management System of MotaWord, the Translation Editor to review the whole project over and over again because the Excel is not going to show you anything, it does not carry any stylistic information, etc. it basically would do a poorer job of showing you the content and yes it would be much smaller because we are trying to restrict ourselves to a single screen so just using the Translation Editor is a better idea. For CSV files, for XLIFF files, or for any kind of programmatic language files, the review page is actually not very useful. But if you are having a problem reviewing a Microsoft Word document or a Powerpoint document, yes then definitely, by all means just go to Intercom, let us know sometimes there are errors and we'd love to get those fixed but usually those are the type of errors we encounter less and less as our systems get more robust.

Great.

Well, I guess that was all 3 questions, we look forward to having the meeting this week coming up with more questions and answering all of them. You can just leave a comment down at this blog or you could actually just ask us your questions anytime you want by either joining the meetings that we hold for proofreaders or by going over to www.motaword.com and asking your questions directly to one of our colleagues on our Intercom app. Thanks a lot. Bye.

Hire Foreign-Born Workers More Easily with Certified Translations

Published on Oct 27, 2019

Certified Translations for Request For Evidence

Summary: Help your foreign-born employees navigate the visa process with certified translations.

There are simple things your company can do to better serve new hires who are getting their work visas.

And often these things do not require any legal background or training. Here’s one that will deepen your relationship with your new employees by saving them time and effort.

Offer certified translations of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) documents.

Did you know that every year the USCIS naturalized between 650 and 750 thousand persons? It’s likely that the majority of those people needed to have documents from their native country translated and certified. Who helps them find these services?

Source: 2018 USCIS Statistical Annual Report

If you are assisting a potential new hire to navigate the visa process, you can reduce their anxiety by facilitating the certified translation of their documents. While this may seem like a simple task, you’ll find that clients are grateful that a trusted advisor is handling this.

Documents in a foreign language will often need a certified translation in order to be legally admissible. These documents include birth certificates, marriage certificates, diplomas, transcripts, inoculation documents, divorce decrees, and death certificates. Take on this work for your new employee. The goodwill it engenders will be repaid many times over.

And if your employee receives a USCIS Request for Evidence (RFE), producing that evidence in the right way, a certified translation, will make you seem like a superhero. Below are a couple of articles that will bring you up to speed on this topic.

Certified Translations for Request For Evidence, More Support

The USCIS website states, “Any foreign language document must be accompanied by a full English translation that the translator has certified as complete and correct, and by the translator's certification that they are competent to translate the foreign language into English.” Certificate of Translation page on USCIS.

MotaWord can provide certified translations for use in immigration proceedings. And we do not add any additional charges beyond the cost of the translation. This is part of our core business.

Learn more on this topic:

Is All Translation Localization?

Published on Oct 18, 2019

Why Should You Run Your Website Localization Project on MotaWord?

Summary: Is all translation a form of localization? Localization, seen through the lens of literary translation.

In reading this piece on Quartz, The radical power of “Jane Eyre,” according to 57 translations from across the world I began to think in greater detail about the relationship between translation and localization.

Often people talk about localizing a website or content of one kind or another as if it were a binary, an either-or, proposition. A choice between, we’ll translate the text into a general version of the language or we’ll tailor it to a particular region or dialect of a language, say French Canadian.

But the truth about localization is more nuanced than that. Localization takes place on a continuum and can begin with things as simple as - or not - the grammar or vocabulary that is intrinsic to the target language. In a work of fiction, relationships can be shown to change over time through the use of grammar alone. In French, German and Italian there is more than one word for ‘you’ - the French vous (formal) versus tu (familiar). The point in a book, play or movie when a character changes from one word to another conveys information in a way that is not available in English. This is a form of localization. It is language/culture-based and thus wedded to the locale of the target language. (in our example that’s French)

The article’s author poses the question as to whether the original work, Jane Eyre, implicitly has a point where the change from formal to familiar exists or whether a translator who does this change has taken creative liberties. That’s a question that probably has no answer.

Likewise, vocabulary seldom has a one-to-one match. It is the translator’s job to recreate a work that evokes the same feelings in the target culture as are evoked in the original culture, that is, the original audience of readers.

This is why localization of content should be understood as a mix of art and craft. There is no one solution since there is no one audience. When we see a popular movie we all love to argue about the particulars of the plot and how characters behaved. Those are the best movies. The ones that make us feels things strongly and are rich enough to contain ambiguity.

Localization in particular and translation, in general, are ultimately re-creative arts. Just as the written music on the page is a guideline and starting point for a performance on a particular date and time, so too is the source document an instruction manual for a work that lives in another language and has a different audience.

And no, this isn’t a call for translators to go wild with their own interpretations of what the original text contains. We still have a professional and ethical obligation to render a translation that is factually accurate and matches the tone and intent of the source language.

Conclusion
So what’s the answer to the question, is all translation localization? The practical answer is no. There are real differences in the various dialects of German, in the way Spanish is spoken in Spain versus Mexico or in the many variants in Latin American. But the larger point is that there are gradations and nuances and that language is related to place or locale.

Read more on localization

Website Localization - More Than Translation (from MotaWord)

What is Content Localization? (from EContent)

This video from Google provides an overview of Expanding your site to more languages

English to Chinese Translation and Hong Kong Unrest: NBA Calls Foul

Published on Oct 18, 2019

Summary: A National Basketball Association (NBA) official offers an apology for comments on the unrest in Hong Kong. The English to Chinese translation differed from the original text.

When does translation cross the line from, ‘That’s one possible interpretation’ to, ‘No, that’s not what was said at all.”? In a recent dispute that played out on social media, an English to Chinese translation probably made things worse and did not lessen the ill will generated by a tweet supporting the Hong Kong protesters.

Who said what
It began last week when the Houston Rockets general manager, Daryl Morey, in support of the Hong Kong protestors, tweeted an image that read, “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong”.

See: Rockets’ general manager’s Hong Kong comments anger China

For the last four months, protestors in Hong Kong have been demonstrating to maintain and strengthen individual rights laid out in the Basic Law, drafted to govern the people when Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule. This effectively ended the 150-year British rule of Hong Kong while maintaining the British legal system.

NBA Chief Communications Officer Mike Bass apologized for the statement made by Daryl Morey. He issued a statement in English.

"We recognize that the views expressed by Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable. While Daryl has made it clear that his tweet does not represent the Rockets or the NBA, the values of the league support individuals’ educating themselves and sharing their views on matters important to them. We have great respect for the history and culture of China and hope that sports and the NBA can be used as a unifying force to bridge cultural divides and bring people together.”

Next
The Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo’s English to Chinese translation was rendered as:

“We feel greatly disappointed at Houston Rockets’ GM Daryl Morey’s inappropriate speech, which is regrettable," the statement read. "Without a doubt, he has deeply offended many Chinese basketball fans. Morey has clarified that his stance on this issue does not represent either Houston Rockets or the NBA. From the NBA’s perspective, people can be interested in different subjects and freely share their opinions. We take respecting Chinese history and culture as a serious matter. We also hope that sports and the NBA, as a unified source of positive energy, can continue to build bridges between countries and bring people together. "

The issue
The first sentence of each version is quite different. The English version can be seen as a soft apology for the Rockets’ General Manager’s tweet, whereas the Chinese translation chastises the tweet as being, ‘inappropriate’. While there is always going to be some kind of latitude in a translation, this English to Chinese translation crossed a line by saying something not present in the original.

In subsequent statements, Mike Bass, NBA spokesperson, took issue with the English to Chinese translation which rendered the original as, “extremely disappointed,” ″inappropriate” or “severely hurt the feelings” of Chinese fans.

“There should be no discrepancy on the statement issued last night,” Bass said. “We have seen various interpretations of the translation of the Mandarin version, but our statement in English is the league’s official statement.”

At MotaWord, we hope you never have the need to question the accuracy of our work. But opinions differ. We’re human - most of us anyway - and we sometimes make mistakes. Here’s our guide on how to give feedback. Giving Feedback On A MotaWord Translation

And, of course, we’d like you to know how we provide you with dependably accurate translations Ensuring Accurate Translations With MotaWord

Are you a professional translator? Work for MotaWord!

French Translations Require Knowing French Culture

Published on Oct 17, 2019

SocialPubli Uses MotaWord to Localize Social Media Content

Summary: For quality French to English translations, cultural knowledge is key.

All translations require knowledge of the native culture. Why? There’s often more to meaning than what is said.

A word to the wise - when translating any language, the task is not to simply decode the individual words or even individual sentences. You must be steeped in the culture to understand how to approach transferring meaning from one language to another.

Let's look at this through the lens of a French to English translation and how the French are said to respond with a ‘no’ to many requests. How much resolve is behind that 'no'? Understanding this gives one context in a conversation. In a post #metoo world in the United States, many of us are accustomed to being absolutists. No means no. But viewed as a French to English translation challenge, things are not so simple. Take a minute to read this article from the BBC last month, Why the French love to say no

Based on the quotes from various people in this BBC article it seems that saying no is often a default position in French culture. Without this crucial cultural knowledge, attempting to translate basic interactions in France might lead to misinterpretation. Is cultural knowledge like this a requirement for all French to English translations? Of course not but without it, there’s a danger that nuance will be lost.

This goes to the question of high-context versus low-context cultures. The degree to which cultural knowledge matters varies across countries and cultures. High-context cultures, such as France, Japan and Russia, are those where one has to read between the lines. Meaning is not always overtly expressed but must be inferred by context, tone of voice, body language, setting, and situation. Some of this will be lost in written language but one’s cultural knowledge can still be useful there too. By contrast, a low-context culture, e.g. the US and Australia is one where people are more plain-spoken and direct.

Why might a French to English translation require more context and nuance than a low-context country? An excellent book on French culture puts it well,

"... speaking French grammatically is not the same as “talking French” culturally."

From, The Bonjour Effect, The Secret Codes of French Conversation Revealed, By Julie Barlow and Jean-Benoit Nadeau

And while there's always the danger of stereotyping people and ignoring individual differences, there are things that are common to cultures that do shape them in ways that can be generalized. The French education system is common to all people in France and in some French territories as well. When venturing a French to English translation being informed about these traditions will make you a better translator.

To help you on your journey to cultural mastery we (not so seriously) offer this charming video

How To Become a Parisian In One Hour?

Related articles:

Website Localization - More Than Translation

Spanish to English Translation: Advice From The Pros

Published on Oct 17, 2019

Compare 16 Masters Programs in Translation
Regional Differences in Spanish

MotaWord’s translators represent over 80 languages, working around the globe in 154 countries. Each translator has a story of how they acquired advanced language skills and each reflects the variety of global cultures that make our world so rich. I recently connected with MotaWord translators, Shawn Hoffman and Michael Woolgar to learn how each came to master Spanish to English translations.

Growing up, what languages were spoken at home?

SH: In my home, only English was spoken at home.

MW: English. Later, as an adult, we spoke both English and Spanish when I married in Bolivia and was bringing up our family. We now speak mostly in Spanish with my current wife, but often communicate in English or French as well.

How did you bring your Spanish to English translation skills up to this professional level?

MW: I worked in French for about five years in Québec and had to develop a working knowledge of that language. Then I came to Latin America where I have lived for more than 40 years. I learned Spanish here by working and living in the language. Getting married here and raising a bilingual family was also very important. Learning to translate was another exercise in perseverance to learn the ability to translate into correct “easy English” and to avoid literal translations that sound so forced and unnatural.

SH: I learned a lot of Spanish throughout high school and college, but it wasn't until I actually lived in Spain for a few years and completed a master's degree in translation that I really felt I was prepared to begin translating at a professional level. More than anything, it was eye-opening. Specifically, I learned how much of my own native language that I was unfamiliar with and that being bilingual is absolutely not the same thing as being a good translator. There were so many aspects of translation that I was unfamiliar with, including transcreation, cultural mediation, and some of the legal aspects that can come into play that really made the experience much more useful than simply developing communication skills in another language.

Most often, what language pairs do you work in and in which direction?

SH: I work almost exclusively between English and Spanish with some very rare instances of Portuguese. The majority of my work is done from Spanish into English - that is, my learned language into my native language. Generally speaking, I would encourage all professional translation to be done into one's own native language. No matter how good a speaker of another language may be, it is, frankly, impossible to achieve the same level of proficiency as a native. In the worst case, one should always have work done into a non-native language revised by a linguist who is native – not just somebody who speaks the language but a linguist familiar with translation, grammar, language use, etc.

MW: Spanish to English and French to English. I often write in Spanish myself for business purposes, at a very proficient level, but it is still not good enough for professional translation purposes.

What kind of Spanish do you work in? Spain Spanish? Latin American? And how strict is that separation?

SH: I am confident working from a variety of Spanish dialects into English, though sometimes I must refer to natives from a specific country or region to aid with certain words. I am confident translating into Castilian Spanish from Spain, though, as mentioned above, would also encourage this work to be done or reviewed by a native from the region. The difference in regional dialects within one country can be immense. The differences between countries are even more evident. There are countless examples (and some very funny videos) comparing the differences of expressions in various Spanish-speaking countries that shed light on just how different the varieties of languages can be. Aside from language, cultural appropriateness can play a large role. In the end, a professional translator who is properly trained should be able to confidently navigate these differences. However, when it comes to legal or very specific texts, it may be incredibly difficult to carry out certain translations without a thorough understanding of the system from which the text has been produced.

MW: I work with a lot of Spanish national service providers as well as some in Latin America. There are some differences but they don’t cause a lot of problems. You must be attuned to different local expressions that you might have to investigate

What do you most enjoy about Spanish to English translation?

SH: One aspect that I really enjoy is the variety. I do freelance work, which sometimes includes texts covering a wide range of topics, registers, and audiences. That variety keeps it interesting. The ability to work remotely is also a huge benefit! Depending on your client base, you may also be able to set your own schedule to a certain degree.

MW: The challenge to find the appropriate terms in English to reflect the original text and to express the translation in “easy-flow” and correct English.

Any advice for beginning translators?

SH: Actually train to be a translator if you are considering doing a translation. Knowledge of a second language is certainly important, but it is far from adequate training when it comes to translation. Join associations, get training, learn which resources can be trusted, and do not be afraid to reach out to the translation community when you don't understand a certain term of text – chances are somebody else has seen it before – never guess!

MW: Persevere, avoid literal translations, make your translations flow easily and naturally in the target language, take care with correct grammar and punctuation, be consistent, get lots of online dictionaries, thesaurus, and subject-specific references and use them often. Finally, if you don’t understand something in the text -> ASK, some of the terminologies can be complicated and confusing, especially if you are not familiar with the subject. Don’t take on subjects that you don’t understand – medical documents, for instance. Make sure that you can deliver your translation on time and properly reviewed it for errors. Take time out every 30 - 60 minutes to give your mind a break so that you can maintain your concentration when you return. Enjoy your work, because if you don’t you will make a mess of it.

What's the most unusual Spanish to English translation job you've done?

SH: Coincidentally, the most unusual job may be one from MotaWord itself. It was a survey that had been sent out to adolescent girls in a few different Latin American countries to get feedback on tampons and other aspects of female hygiene devices. Both the questions and the answers were interesting, to say the least.

MW: I don’t know about “unusual”, but some of the most impacting subjects involved the horror stories of refugees from Central America escaping crime and terrorism in their home countries.

Related Readings

Enjoy watching one woman’s experience studying translation at the Masters Program at Leiden University

What is Translation Memory (TM)

Published on Oct 17, 2019

Why the EU and Companies Are Using Translation Memory in Boosting Productivity

Summary: Translation Memory (TM) saves modern translation platforms time and money by reusing material previously translated.

In the days before we had computers to assist us, translation work was a one-off, hand-crafted affair. (Bespoke, if you want to use the latest jargon) A translator did their work and that work had no relation to any work done after that, even when covering similar topics. But with the development of computers and specialized databases, Translation Memory Systems were developed.

Wikipedia defines Translation Memory as:
...a database that stores "segments", which can be sentences, paragraphs or sentence-like units (headings, titles or elements in a list) that have previously been translated, in order to aid human translators. The translation memory stores the source text and its corresponding translation in language pairs called “translation units”. Individual words are handled by terminology bases and are not within the domain of TM.

How do people use Translation Memory Systems?

The software segments the source text, i.e. the original text, into components and searches the Translation Memory for matches between segments in the source text and segments that have previously been translated. These ‘source-target’ pairs are what is stored in the database. When a match is found it is presented to the translator as a translation candidate. The translator can then, accept it, replace it with a new translation, or change it to match the source. In the last two options, the altered or new translation goes into the database.

This process lets translators easily reuse prior work done by anyone contributing to the database, that is, the Translation Memory. As a result, you have greater consistency, speed, and savings.

It won’t surprise you to learn that governments generate a great deal of translation work. The NEC TM project uses government-funded translation work to supply a database open to participating European countries. Why have these Europen countries joined forces on this project? Each is pooling their national bilingual assets as open-source data to be used to train machine learning. This allows the member countries to access a larger data set and make their spending on translations to be more effective.

How MotaWord’s Translation Memory Helps Our Clients

When a MotaWord client uploads a text to be translated, segments of that text are stored in MotaWord’s Translation Memory. Over time, as more and more translations contribute to the Translation Memory, translations become more efficient, consistent and cheaper because we don’t charge for any text that was previously translated.

Clients can download their translation data.
MotaWord does not charge for creating a Translation Memory for clients.
MotaWord does not share a client’s Translation Memory

MotaWord’s clients appreciate that we don’t charge them for duplicate translations and can often turn around jobs more quickly.

Learn more

Wikipedia: Translation Memory

About the NEC TM project

Google Warns, Machine Translation Is Not Ready To Replace Human Translators

Published on Oct 15, 2019

See: Google Says Google Translate Can’t Replace Human Translators. Immigration Officials Have Used It to Vet Refugees.

Summary: Google warns, Machine Translation is not ready to replace human translators in reviewing applications for refugee status

Refugees seeking asylum in the United States are a vulnerable population. Often with limited or no financial resources, language barriers, the threat of violence if returned to their native country, they rely on the competence and goodwill of the U.S. to assess the merits of their appeal for asylum in this country.

As part of the vetting process, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has produced an internal instructional document that directs officers to use Google Translate look at the social media posts of immigrants seeking entry into the United States. This became public knowledge as a result of a public records request from the International Refugee Assistance Project and ProPublica.

This manual addressed procedures to be used for follow-on cases. These are cases where the applicant’s spouse or parent has already been granted refugee status. In 2017, 3% of refugees admitted to the U.S. did so under this follow-on process.

With the stakes as high as they are in immigration cases when news of this practice became public Google and language experts advised that machine translation services, including those of Google, Bing, and Yahoo should not be used to replace human translators. Machine translations are not equal to the challenge of discerning nuance or recognizing slang.

ProPublica’s tests of translating social media posts using Google Translate’s machine translation system resulted in wildly inaccurate translations. This could have severe consequences for people seeking asylum in the U.S. And just as a matter of fairness when an applicant is rejected for admission to the United States, they are not often given the reason. In any subsequent decision review, they might not know that a mistranslated social media text was responsible for their rejection.

Douglas Hofstadter, a widely published expert in artificial intelligence and professor of cognitive sciences at Indiana University at Bloomington, faults machine translation as not understanding text as humans do. Instead, he stated, these programs use “decoding” or “text substitution” often with the resulting glaring errors.

Human translators are still the only way to be assured you will get an accurate translation.

MotaWord uses technology to support the work of human translators with a platform that allows multiple translators to work on a document simultaneously, access a client’s style guide or glossary and reuse translations previously done for that client. This not only speeds up the translation process but also saves the client money. And our platform also helps our clients more easily submit work via our Language Translation API. Here’s a more complete list of time-saving features from MotaWord.

Conclusion
The USCIS requires certified translations of official documents, such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, college transcripts, and other government or institution-issued documents. Without certification from a human translator, these documents won’t be accepted. In the case of refugees applying for entry into the United States, the same rigorous and justifiable standard should be applied to vetting social media posts. For more on this topic read: Certified Translations For USCIS - Top 5 Things You Need To Know

Learn more about the topic of human vs. machine translation:

High-Quality, Accurate Translations - Humans or Machines?

The State of Neural Machine Translation (NMT)

Watch our MotaWord Introduction Video

How to Find a Good Translator

Published on Oct 15, 2019

'Porgy and Bess' can offend. Now Try Translating It Into Spanish
5 Ways To Translate A Song Without Knowing Language

Summary: To find a good translator you must recognize that translating is complex. You can choose from, good, fast, cheap. But only two.

What is a good translation?
Before we get to how to find a good translator we should probably talk about constitutes a good translation. We can probably all agree that it is not a word-for-word exchange from the source language to the target language. It has to convey the meaning and reproduce the tone of the original in a way that sounds natural to the target audience. The minimum requirements are accuracy, good grammar, correct spelling, and ease of understanding. Exceptions to these rules exist in the case of translating slang or other non-standard language but we’ll touch on that later.

Types of translations
The variety of translation types is infinite and is as broad and deep as all of the human knowledge. In spite of that grandiose thought, we can point to a few typical areas of translations types. Business, marketing, legal, medical, financial, literary are some common ones.

What is a good translator?
A good translator is someone with a strong command of both the target and source languages and someone who understands both cultures. As I noted earlier, a good translation is not the act of decoding individual words or even individual phrases. It happens in a cultural context

In a recent NewYork Times article on translating the lyrics (or libretto) of the opera Porgy and Bess, the translators had many requirements that defined what a successful translation should be. For starters, the source language is idiomatic English referred to as “Negro dialect”. One of the problems with this dialect is that it was written by two white men, Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward, and its legitimacy has been questioned. But the task of translating this, or any other dialect in a theatrical work or elsewhere, remains the same. There’s the need to remain faithful to the original work by recreating the feel, having a comparable use of slang, and of idioms. In the case of song lyrics, judgment calls have to be made as to when to try to keep lyric rhyming and countless other decisions including the technical requirements of the singers. Add to that the fact that the Met Opera screens (on the backs of the seats) can display only 72 characters at a time. If you’ve gotten this far in thinking about the process of translation you’ll find these articles fascinating:

Of course, not all translations have this many elements to balance but each type of translation can have its own domain-specific terms or buzzwords. For example, we might need to recreate hiring a ‘coding nina’ to build a website that ‘captures mindshare’ that at the ‘end of the day ramps up sales’. A good translator will handle this gracefully into the target language.

How to find a good translator

Use a translator who is a native speaker of the target language. That person will provide you with a translation that will sound natural to other native speakers. They are your audience.
Look for a translator with a reputable client list. This list should not only contain known brands but also have some clients who are relevant to your needs. If you need a legal document or marketing document translated then that the translator or translation company should be able to demonstrate they have done that type of translation work.
Look for qualifications. While a degree in translating is not a guarantee of quality it is one indicator that should be considered. On the other hand, a non-degreed translator with 20 years of experience and an excellent client list might end up being a better bet.

A final thought
It is one of life’s immutable rules that you can get only two of these three things at once: fast, good, and cheap.
You get what you pay for.

Related Readings

Choosing A Translation Agency - What You Need To Know

Spanish Translation of Wordplay From English

Watch this humorous take on translating lyrics

MotaWord's Mobile Translation App - A Brief Overview

Published on Oct 9, 2019

MotaWord’s Language Translation API

Summary: MotaWord’s Language Translation App provides its translators and clients with faster access to information and tools.

As MotaWord continues the rollout of our Mobile Translation App, we’re taking the time to document the thoughts and processes that went into making the app. Who we mean to serve, what features to include at the outset and what additional features to add. We checked in with Evren Ay, CEO and Founder of MotaWork to get his thoughts on the new language translation app.

Question: How do you decide what users want in a mobile language translation app? How will it actually look and behave?

Evren Ay: We decide on what we can realistically do with the translation app, within a certain amount of time. You can do anything you want but it's going to take a long time.

So we say this thing is for the first iteration of the app. And we decided that the most important thing that we had to do was let our vendors, our translators, know as fast as possible when there was a project to be worked on. Because the problem with email is this; in email, there is sequencing. There's the list of people to be emailed, and the people at the bottom of that list get the email later than the people at the top of that. Now when you're emailing 16,000 people that makes a difference. There's actually a delay between when people get it.

So we said, the apps don't suffer from that. So let's first do our app in a way that our vendors can see their settings, change their settings, get faster, project notifications, check up on those projects on their app directly without having to go to their laptop or desktop, etc. And then they can decide whether it's worth it for them to go and start working on the project. Yes or no. So that was the first thing.

And then on the next iteration of the translation app, a translator will see, for example, a job of English into Arabic. The translator can go see the source documents, a record showing how much is translated, the rate per word to the proofreader, etc. In the next iteration of our thing, they will be able to work on the job.

So from here, especially for shorter projects, this is going to be useful. They will be able to click on a button to work on this project. And they will be able to work directly on this from the mobile translation app. But we decided to start our app with the order's adoption.

The other good thing about apps is you get to renew them. You get to add new functionality and people get notified of that new functionality. So that's why they're actually even better than websites. And also, we asked people, what kind of stuff they wanted from the app.

So thirty-six, people downloaded the app and did some sort of testing. And we are listening to the additional functionality that they asked for. One of those suggestions we actually decided to incorporate into this version of the app. [Showing mobile translation app interface] So here, for example, you can see there's the total number of words translated and total earnings. And one translator suggested something along the lines of wanting to see the total amount of unpaid work. So first we can see total earnings. Then second, I think they're going to be able to swipe to the left to go from seeing total earnings to the amount remaining to be paid out. So that is the kind of feedback we are looking for. We don't think of everything ourselves, either. Right?

There are going to be edge cases, and they're going to be things that you just didn't think of exactly. But currently, it is actually a way for us to show translators how many projects we invite them to, and even better, to get them invited to projects through the app.

And what happens is, whenever there's a project, even my watch rings and it tells me that there's a project on MotaWord. And I get to know about it at the same time as everyone. This was our number one priority.

The number two thing is going to be for the vendors, our translators, to be able to work directly on the app. And the clients' version is coming out now. In the client version, they will be able to see the status of their projects, to see a list of all the projects that they actually ordered with us, past as well as current. So this is the client app.

We’re happy with the initial responses to our early users and know both our translators and clients will be even happier as will add additional features. Download the iPhone version from the App Store. Let us know what you think.

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Let's Build a Mobile Language Translation App!

Published on Oct 9, 2019

MotaWords’s Language Translation API

Summary: MotaWord’s translation app better meets the needs of translators and translation clients. MotaWord’s team talks process.

So, just like an old-time Hollywood musical where Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney say, “Let’s put on a show!” someone at each business will eventually say, “We need to build an app!”.

OK… that may be true but in MotaWord’s case, we took a hard look at the value we could create and who would benefit from a language translation app. Recently, we asked the MotaWord team to comment on how to think about these questions. What value can we create that justifies the time and expense needed to build the MotaWord translation app? Below are excerpts of an ongoing conversation we’re having.

Why build a Mobile Language Translation App?

Evren Ay, Founder: Gone are the days when you report to an office and sit at a desk from 9 to 5. In the gig economy, of which MotaWord is also a part, making use of and monetizing your free time is important. As we always say at MotaWord, we are a multi-sided platform that develops better technologies for not only our clients but also for our translators. The MotaWord Mobile app allows them to work from anywhere without being tied to their laptops or desktops.

Kerem Onen, Global Sales Manager: Being able to catch up with the speed of MotaWord is an ongoing issue for most of the translators. The ones that are not in front of their computer complain about projects being translated too fast, of not being able to participate in enough projects. The app will help them have access to projects faster.

Also, vendors (translators) having access to our blog articles are very important. People read articles on their mobile devices while commuting, waiting for an appointment, etc. Making them accessible from the app is an important way to have more readers.

For clients, MotaWord is underlining its disruptive and tech-savvy nature by creating an app for its clients. Now they can follow the progression of their projects and access their accounts anytime. Also, having a MotaWord app on their mobile is a great asset when it comes to retention and loyalty.

Priya Ajit, Director of Business Development: While the corporates and the translators contribute to our business growth, we should not forget about the individual customers, who are also significant contributors. Through a mobile application, we can offer an even better and seamless experience to them by giving them the flexibility to upload their projects simply via taking pictures. Getting their translated documents delivered back, in the shortest turnaround time will further reinforce our advantage of being the fastest translation platform.

Another key benefit is tracking translation projects. Giving timely information about the start of their project to an individual or a corporate customer gives them great confidence and assures them that our translators have already started working on their projects. It creates more trust in clients by keeping them updated throughout the time their project is being worked on.

Kaan Demirel, Senior Software Engineer: Speed is a priority for us in all parts of the system and we want our vendors, the translators, to get notified of new projects as fast as possible. The main reason that this app makes the process faster and more visible is the fact that people unlock their phones for no reason almost 100 times a day and see notifications. So, that’s how vendors will benefit from the app. They’ll see a translation job notification sooner. For clients, the app provides a quicker way to track the progress of their projects.

Recap

The MotaWord team looked at the needs of their translators and clients and then built them a translation app. This app gives them a faster way to submit translation jobs (clients), get notification of jobs (translators), quickly begin work on a translation project (translators and clients), track progress (clients), as well as other features that make the translation process more efficient and effective.

Download it now and you’ll see what a better translation experience can look like.

Other ways MotaWords Speeds Your Translation Needs

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Spanish Translations of Beloved Books, in Audio

Published on Oct 8, 2019

Spanish Translation For Your Website: Which Spanish?

Summary: Learning Spanish can be easier if you listen to Spanish translations of well-known stories in audiobook format. We have the best Spanish audiobook list for you.

Sometimes you just want someone to tell you a story. You don’t want to read. You don’t want to watch a video. Audio content, whether it’s a podcast or in an audiobook, is a different experience from text or video content. And if you are learning a language, then audiobooks are a great way to practice and learn that language.

What's more, when working on your Spanish, listening to Spanish translations of well-known books can be easier than listening to unfamiliar stories or topics. So let’s look at what’s available. I’m a big fan of ‘free’ so we’ll start there on our tour of audiobooks in Spanish translation. You can hear a variety of Spanish spoken by Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Spanish (Castillian) voice actors. This is invaluable since there are often significant differences in pronunciation among countries.

As you study and practice Spanish it’s a good idea to remember that there is no one version, nor one correct dialect of Spanish. Your language learning will benefit from exposing yourself to the Spanish of Spain, Mexico, Latin America, Puerto Rico and Cuba for the greatest language versatility. We touch on these variants in our blog:

Here's a great place to start in your search for good (and free!) audiobooks in Spanish: 25 best [free!] audiobooks for learning Spanish

Next up, we look at commercial Spanish language audiobooks you can find. You can do a limited amount of listening for free if you cancel your membership before the 30-day trial is up.

Librivox.org (Books in the public domain, read in multiple languages)

Another source of free audiobooks is Librivox, the platform that provides audio versions of books that are no longer copyrighted in the U.S. Their catalog of 488 books (and counting) includes the works of Mark Twain, William Defoe, Edgar Allen Poe and other well-known English language authors in Spanish translation.

All of these examples of English works in Spanish translation are being done to a high standard of quality. Ah, would that this was always the case. Read about these ‘missteps’, ‘faux pas’ or in this case ‘pasos en falso’ committed by some of our politicians:

MotaWord Blog Post: Spanish Language Translations Not Right on the Left

11 Spanish Audiobooks to Get Your Kids Reading (free with 30-day trial)

This list of Spanish translations has some titles you’re likely to know and includes:

Coco is based on the Disney Pixar movie and tells the story of Miguel and his adventures in the underworld. (Listen to a sample)

El Principito (The Little Prince) Is a classic children’s book, published in 1943. Ten years later the first Spanish translation of this book came out and interestingly, in Argentina, a gender-neutral version was published. (Listen to a sample)

Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal (Harry Potter and Philosopher’s Stone) With the huge popularity of this series it’s safe to say you, your children, or all of you will love this Spanish translation of this book. Did you see how the title references the Philosopher's Stone and not the Sorcerer’s Stone? The American title was ...Sorcerer’s Stone. (Listen to a sample) With a running time of 22 hours, 17 minutes, if you do half an hour at bedtime it will take you almost 2 months to complete. This is something your kids will never forget. (Listen to a sample)

La Odisea Contada A Los Niños (The Odessey, Told to Children) This epic Greek poem receives a Spanish translation for children that lasts 2 hours, 22 minutes and makes a wonderful introduction to the story of Ulysses, King of the Greek state of Ithaca. (Listen to a sample)

Finally, if you’d like to read along with the audio you can watch this video:

There are certainly other sources of both free and paid audiobooks in Spanish translations but this is a good start.

MotaWord Celebrates International Translation Day

Published on Sep 24, 2019

Learn about the origin of International Translation Day on September 30

But first...

If you read blogs about the translation world then I imagine that that, like me, you are a word nerd. So let's digress for a minute to look at the language that goes into crafting a resolution. Here's the United Nations resolution declaring September 30 Internal Translation Day. It's worth reading.

The structure, broadly speaking goes something like this:

The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution on such and such a date.
The topic in this case: The role of professional translation in connecting nations and fostering peace, understanding, and development

And here's the fun part.

What follows next is a long list of statements, with an introductory word or phrase, supporting the idea that translations matter greatly in the world. (of course, I agree.) Each of these introductory phrases is essentially a synonym for the same thing. Here's a sample:

Recalling...
Recalling also...
Recalling further...
Recognizing that...
Acknowledging the role of...
Mindful of...
Noting that...

This list goes on for quite a bit more. It's fun to look at this from a language or rhetorical perspective.

Now, back to International Translation Day.

St. Jerome is the patron saint of translators. Seen from a Western perspective, one can see why. Also known as Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus, St. Jerome was born (estimated) in 342 and died on September 30th in 420. He was a Catholic priest, theologian, historian, and translator who lived in what is now known as Croatia. His deep knowledge of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew lead him to do translations of the Bible from the original Hebrew into Latin as well as write commentaries on the Gospels.

The first organization to declare September 30th as International Translation Day was the International Federation of Translators. This was in 1953. It then took over fifty years for wider acceptance of this date that highlights the important work of translators.

In 2017 the United Nations adopted a resolution to acknowledge the important role that translators play in “connecting nations and fostering peace, understanding, and development”. And because St. Jerome is the patron saint of translators, September 30th was selected as International Translation Day.

The U.N. celebrates other languages as well:

21 February - International Mother Language Day
20 March - French Language Day at the UN
20 April - Chinese Language Day at the UN
23 April - English Language Day at the UN
23 April - Spanish Language Day at the UN
6 June - Russian Language Day at the UN
18 December - Arabic Language Day at the UN
2008 - International Year of Languages
2019 - International Year of Indigenous Languages (A/RES/71/178)

Watch this video to learn more about the role of multilingualism at the United Nations

MotaWord would like to join the rest of the international translation community in celebrating International Translation Day and all the translators around the world. By translating literary, scientific, professional, and human to human communications, we each play a small part in creating a more positive atmosphere for international discourse. Through their work, the world is a better place.

About MotaWord
MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock and over 15 thousand professional translators MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

Spanish Translation of Wordplay from English

Published on Sep 23, 2019

Spanish Language Translations Not Right On The Left

Summary: Translating wordplay or puns is often challenging and sometimes futile. We explore this topic from the perspective of English to Spanish translations.

I have a confession to make. I’m not proud of it. It’s something that runs in my family. I’m a punster. No, I can’t even say that I’m a recovering punster since I feel regret only on some rare occasions when it gets out of control.

Whether doing a Spanish translation of a source text in English or the reverse, translating wordplay from one language to another is fiendishly difficult.

We’ll look at this topic through the example of the language pair of English (source) and Spanish (target) - i.e. creating a Spanish translation from an English language text.

Below is an extreme example of a challenging source, the semi-nonsensical poem Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll, author of Alice In Wonderland. Carroll’s wordplay included making up words that were a mix of two words, also known as a portmanteau. Common examples in English are ‘brunch’ (breakfast + lunch) or ‘smog’ (smoke + fog). In the first line of the poem below, the word, ‘slithy’ is a mix of ‘lithe’ and ‘slimy’. The challenge of going from the English to a Spanish translation is to try to retain both the meaning and the style of wordplay of the original. That’s a tall order.

If your understanding of Spanish is up for it, you’ll see that the translator throws up his hands and makes things up. And that’s not a criticism. In this type of work, there is often no right Spanish translation. The only option available is to try to recreate qualities of the original, to evoke those things that the original evokes.

English

Spanish

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!"

Era la asarvesperia y los flexilimosos toves

giroscopiaban taledrando en el vade;

debilmiseros estaban los borogoves;

bramatchisilban los verdilechos parde.

¡Cuidado con el Jabberwocky, hijo mío!

¡Cuídate de las mandíbulas que muerden.

de las garras que apresan!

Cuídate del pájaro Rapiña y del altanero Halcón.

This video, Oh Fortua, Misheard Lyrics, (from Carmina Burana) is a delightful example of throwing meaning to the winds making things up.

Sometimes a translator will get lucky and the wordplay or pun with have a corresponding example in the target language. Again, using the language pair of English as the source and the Spanish translation the target, we have this example from article Translating Puns in Harry Potter

In the English version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, a classmate of Harry's, Lavender Brown, says she has found Uranus in her horoscope, to which Ron Weasley asks: "Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?" (p. 201), evoking the usual pun in English amongst children. An identical or similar pun does exist in some languages, and not surprisingly, languages that share their history with English more readily reproduce the pun.

In Spanish, the translator gives us: "Puedo echarle yo también un vistazo a tu Ur-ano, Lavender? - preguntó Ron con sorna. The word "ano" of course means "anus"; with the "Ur" separated to preserve the pun. By itself "ur" has no particular meaning in Spanish, so the hyphen plays an important part in recreating the wordplay

And just in case you’re inclined to believe that translating humor always ends in triumph, read our final anecdote.

In reading about the challenges of translating wordplay one of the favorite anecdotes I encountered was the story of former President, Jimmy Carter, who joked in the process of giving a speech. When translated to Japanese, the audience laughed much more than he expected them to. When he asked the translator how he had translated his joke, this is the reply he got:

“I told the audience, ‘President Carter told a funny story; everyone must laugh.’

Some things are lost in translation.

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Juvenes Translatores 2019: Young European Translator Contest

Published on Sep 3, 2019

Where will the next generation of translators come from? In Europe, this translation contest for secondary school students suggests the pipeline is strong.

The yearly Juvenes Translatores contest supports and celebrates language learning and translating. Many of the participating students go on to study for careers in interpreting and translating. And all come away with a deeper appreciation for the skill and dedication required to be a good translator.

Applications are now open for the Juvenes Translatores 2019 translation contest for secondary school students in the European Union. The competition will take place from 10am to noon, Central European Times on 21, November 2019. The final date to apply is October 20th, 2019.

“The European Commission's Directorate-General for Translation (DG Translation) runs Juvenes Translatores 2019, an online translation contest for secondary schools in the European Union.”

Not all schools that apply will be selected to participate in this translation contest. If your school is selected, it can, in turn, chose 2 - 5 participants to take part in the competition.

If you are familiar with this competition you should note, the competition has moved online. No more pencils and paper. Once the applying schools have been selected then each of those schools selects 2 - 5 students to compete.

What languages
Participants can choose to translate from any official EU language into any other official EU language. The official EU languages are: Bulgarian (BG), Croatian (HR), Czech (CS), Danish (DA), Dutch (NL), English (EN), Estonian (ET), Finnish (FI), French (FR), German (DE), Greek (EL), Hungarian (HU), Irish (GA), Italian (IT), Latvian (LV), Lithuanian (LT), Maltese (MT), Polish (PL), Portuguese (PT), Romanian (RO), Slovak (SK), Slovenian (SL), Spanish (ES) and Swedish (SV).

During the competition, no digital translation tools may be used but paper dictionaries, either monolingual or bilingual, may be used.

Each submitted translation will be reviewed by a panel of professional translators and revisors from DG Translators. A jury will select the best translation from each EU country and special mention will be awarded to up to 10% of the most excellent translations.

The criteria used to judge translations are:

accuracy of translation
ability to write correctly (grammar and choice of expressions)
ability to write fluently, and
the creativity of translation solutions

The awards ceremony will take place in Brussels in the Spring of 2020.

View a brief overview of the competition process:

MotaWord is delighted to hear this translation contest is extremely popular. We applaud the students and teachers involved in connecting the peoples of the world through translating. We like to think we’re a part of that good work and if you make the leap into professional translating, join some of the best translators on the planet on the MotaWord platform. Check back in with us as we plan to list all translation contests and other opportunities for the translation community.

For more information and for your school to apply go here.

About MotaWord
MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock, and over 17 thousand professional translators, MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

SocialPubli Uses MotaWord to Localize Social Media Content

Published on Aug 26, 2019

Website Localization - More Than Translation

Summary: For SocialPubli, MotaWord is the perfect translation platform to translate and localize content for social media.

Recently, MotaWord content creator Marcos Dinnerstein interviewed Ismael El-Qudsi, the founder of SocialPubli. SocialPubli is a platform for advertising agencies and others to find micro-influencers to promote their products and services. Learn what micro-influencers are and how using them can be a powerful tool in your marketing efforts. And learn how MotaWord addressed a specific need for SocialPubli in translating and localizing social media content. Below are excerpts of a longer podcast interview that can be heard here.

Marcos Dinnerstein (MD)

What translation needs and challenges has SocialPubli faced?

Ismael El-Qudsi (IEQ)

We were facing a problem in the past, before finding out about MotaWord, which was posting content in many languages. Imagine you should be posting in Italian, Spanish, English, German, French - it was impossible to manage that. So we used to have six to eight people inside the office both creating content and posting that content. We ended up posting only in English and Spanish because with those 2 languages, more or less, you can still reach large audiences. But now we are using MotaWord to translate some text, some tweets, for instance. I love the system. It’s so fast you can translate a tweet in a single minute. And it’s not a Google translator thing. It’s real people, which is exactly the same as SocialPubli, real people promoting brands. MotaWord is real people helping translate your things.

Especially for social media - you need to be posting every day. You can’t wait two days going back and forth with the translator, which we were facing in the last few years. I really like the fact that I can put a post on MotaWord and in twenty minutes I get that same post in 5 different languages. I think it’s incredible! I’m doing kind of the same thing with micro-influencers but I never realized it was so simple, easy and reliable in the end. If you don’t like the content (i.e. the translation) you can tell the people at MotaWord, right away what the problem is and they will fix it. So it’s super fast, with a very responsive team and not only is the translating very important but sometimes international companies don’t realize the importance of localizing.

MD

So, can you make that difference between translating and localizing understandable for our audience.

IEQ

Imagine you are living in a country where 99% of the population is blonde, very tall, and super white. You are living in a small Nordic country and everyone has green eyes. Now imagine we take a picture from New York City, where there are a lot of different people: Indian, Black, Hispanic, a lot of different race and you take the same picture and publish it in this small Nordic country. For them, in this country, this is not real. It’s very weird. If 99% of the population of this country is tall and super white and yellow-haired and you look at that website (with the original picture). It’s super weird for you and isn’t trustable.

MD

So how does localizing fix that?

IEQ

Translating will be the first step in localizing. You have to translate the content into the right language or the right dialect. And then also adapt all the cultural nuances that we all have. So for instance, in Spanish speaking languages - the language that is spoken in Mexico has nothing to do with my country, with Spain. It’s totally different. It’s exactly the same with the US and the UK. The language, it is pretty much the same but there are some jargon and slang words that you should adapt. If not, it’s not going to be trustable in the other country. And it’s not only adapting the text but also the images, which sometimes we fail to do. For instance, if you are using a flag - maybe you take a picture in Italy and you can see an Italian flag at the end of that picture. If you put that same picture in Germany they will think, “Why is that guy wearing a T-shirt with an Italian flag?” So sometimes there are very small details that could make a difference.

I forgot to mention that it is very useful when you are launching Google Adwords campaigns or FB campaigns in different countries, you need to adjust, like 200 characters into a different language. Sometimes you are missing those nuances because you are doing a literal translation. With MotaWord there are real people helping you to translate that. You put some briefing (to the translator) such as, “I want to reach youngsters or I want to reach all the people” whatever you are looking for - and they adapt the content to the right people so you can create an ad in 5 languages in the morning. That’s incredible, to be honest.

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Video

High-Quality, Accurate Translations - Humans or Machines?

Published on Aug 1, 2019

Summary: High-quality, accurate translations are still the domain of humans. Machine translations have to wait.

“Close enough for horseshoes or hand grenades.” For professional translations, you will never hear that sentence spoken.

Until such time as Machine Translation (ML) can produce accurate, high-quality translations you still need a human doing professional quality translation work as an integral part of the translation workflow. That doesn’t mean translations should not have assistance from Artificial Intelligence (AI) or ML. MotaWord has taken this approach by using technology to significantly enhance human translations. And it shows in the consistently high-quality translation we deliver to our clients, day in and day out.

For an in-depth examination of Machine Translation, you’ll like: The Limits of Machine Translation (note: advances in this field were achieved roughly five years later, with the advent of Neural Machine Translation)

Whether fair or not, people use how you speak, how you use language, as a proxy for judging your intelligence. Don’t let this common bias make you less effective in business or your social life.

An accurate translation requires not only the correct translation of individual words and phrases but also an understanding of the context of what is being translated. That could conceivably determine how a word or phrase is translated. In an earlier blog post, Machine Translation Ready to Take Over the World? Not Yet Pinky! we featured an example of translating a text about a music concert. In this context, a ‘metal fan’ is someone who likes that genre of rock music and is not a machine that blows cooling air. A human translator will have no problem understanding the context and will be able to produce an accurate translation. The machine translation might go with the cooling machine. Mistakes like this can make you look sloppy, foolish or worse.

In this case, you might say the machine translation blows - I’m sure you get my meaning of the word ‘blows’.

The MotaWord platform is supported by AI and algorithmic tools that improve the quality and accuracy of our worldwide network of human translators. MotaWord provides our teams of translators with the best available tools for quality translations, including style guides, translation memory, or translation history. And of course, the platform itself is a collaborative work environment where translators can communicate with the client mid-project, help each other, learn from each other and grow professionally by honing the work on a translation project.

Additionally, clients can use MotaWords’s Language Translation API, our MotaWord Grabber (Chrome extension), and the recently released MotaWord’s Translation App. (Our translation app not only helps our clients but also helps our translators do their jobs more effectively) Reducing the time it takes to complete routine tasks streamlines the translation process, reduces errors and that means a more accurate translation.

It is the human component that MotaWord is constantly optimizing, to support translating nuance, discerning context, and to match the tone of the target language with that of the source language.

For more on comparing machine versus human translation watch, Human Translation vs Machine Translation: Competition or Collaboration

Give MotaWord a try. We’re confident you’ll be happy with the result.

MotaWord's Translation App Is Here

Published on Jul 29, 2019

MotaWord’s Language Translation API

Summary: Work smarter and faster with MotaWord’s translation app for professional translators and proofreaders. See the features.

We’re excited to announce our new translation app for professional translators and proofreaders working on the MotaWord platform. You can use it with either iPhone or Android smartphones and we think you’re going to love using it.

The first version of the MotaWord translation app features:

Instant notification: When MotaWord receives a new translation project you’ll know immediately. No more late emails or emails stuck in spam folders.
Instant translation project review: No more delays before deciding whether to accept a project or not. (When we release Version 2 you’ll be able to start working on a translation project immediately on your smartphone)
Update your profile: Including your email, address, and PayPal information. Access it through the Settings section.
Freeze or Unfreeze your account: For those times when you don’t want translation project notifications. Don’t forget to unfreeze your account when you want to resume MotaWord translation app notifications.
View your earnings and payment status: What is better than knowing on the go how much money you have made and when you'll get paid?
View project invitation history and how many projects you joined: This one is a nice chart of how many projects we are receiving within a period and how many of them you are participating in.
In-app live chat: Issues with a project? Questions that need immediate answer? Speak with the MotaWord team while on the go...

The MotaWord translation app can be downloaded from the Apple Store or Google Play.

Stay tuned, because we have many more features we’re excited to bring to you. As we roll out the first version, we’re eager for your feedback so please download and start using the app. We’re going to build the best translation app for our clients, professional translators and proofreaders and we depend on your informed feedback to make it happen.

Please take a few moments to answer a few questions to give us your thoughts on our new translation app (link to our short survey here: With your help, we will build a translation tool that removes the obstacles that might exist among you, MotaWord and, most important, the client.

Download the App
Apple Store
Google Play

Related:

Giving Feedback On A MotaWord Translation - For Clients

What Does It Mean To Be A Proofreader on MotaWord?

Is Translation Important in the Real Estate Industry?

Published on Jul 16, 2019

by Priya Ajit

The importance of translation in the real-estate sector arises from the increasing demand by individuals and companies to manage and invest in properties across the globe. Translation facilitates access to the right information, to the potential customers in their local language along with a good SEO score of the property advertisement.

The real estate industry is highly competitive and ever-changing. A consultant’s role is important right from the initiation to the conclusion of a transaction. Various tasks such as property listings, attracting clients, negotiating the terms and conditions of sale, and drawing up contracts are an integral part of the transaction process consultants have to carry out. Communicating with the clients in a language they are most comfortable with, can work in their favor. In this sector, where a large variety of legal content and monetary amounts are involved, a professional translation service is highly recommended.

In Spain, for example, the most used language in the real estate sector is, as expected, English, followed by German and French. Other languages such as Russian, Chinese or Arabic are also important in the Spanish property market.

In the United States, roughly 60 million people don’t speak English at home. That’s roughly one in five Americans who are more comfortable conversing, reading, and writing in another language. If you work in real estate, that’s one in five sales you might be missing out on.

Here are few examples of content which should be translated to reach the target market:

Property Description – The right description in the local language is important to communicate clearly. We strictly advise a professional translation agency, for the translation of property walkthrough videos, and e-brochures, to communicate correctly and concisely. The use of machine translated language in this situation can cause fatal mistakes and confusion.
Legal documentation – All legal documents of the property or the transaction as always need to be translated by professionals. The right and seamless execution of the document develops trust and ensures that each party’s interest is covered and secured.
Press releases – Press releases are an important way to communicate corporate events and property launches. It is a key part of the multilingual public relation strategy as it helps to reach a wider audience and leads to an increase in potential customers.
Marketing content and promotional videos - The correct terminology and the right message to the target market is very important while preparing marketing content and promotional videos.
Website content – Converting visitors to loyal customers becomes easy with a multilingual website. It is one of the greatest marketing tools with a large section of global internet users who research properties online.
Building codes – The building codes for commercial and residential properties vary from city to city in the same country and hence the right explanation is important, as any miscommunication might result in a shift of buyer’s decision.

Maintaining the confidentiality of the document is an important aspect to be considered while choosing a translation agency. Motaword offers more features to ensure your security and confidentiality than most other translation services. At Motaword, we use an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate, closed servers, and our beloved vetted translator base sign non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements before they start their first project.

To add on, we do not use Dropbox, FTP tools, or any other channels for the exchange of documents and information. Everything is done through our protected platform to ensure complete privacy and safety of the documents.

When adapting the content to each market, a translator must take great care with the terminology and should always keep in mind the target user, as it could be a client with a high purchasing power.

Keep in mind, however, that in the case of clients with high purchasing power the translator should have a good knowledge of the peculiarities of the market regarding the sale of various asset classes and also know the best way to address this type of client.

Would you like to know how Motaword can assist you in your real estate transactions?

Certified Translations for Request for Evidence, More Support

Published on Jul 13, 2019

In our last piece on the topic of Certified Translation for Request for Evidence (RFE) we went over a number of vital topics.

What is a USCIS Request for Evidence (RFE)

Why might a USCIS officer send an RFE?

Missing documents for a marriage-based green card.
Insufficient Income
No proof that the applicant entered the country legally
Uncertified translations of documents from non-English language sources

Now you find yourself in the position of having to respond to an RFE.

What to do if you receive a Request for Evidence

First thing, read the complete RFE from start to finish. You are likely to receive this only one time, so it is crucial to quickly understand what’s required. Be sure that any additional proof being request was not included in your original application. People make mistakes. If that’s the case you’ll need to send duplicates in your response. Note which documents are duplicates of documents originally submitted.

Carefully note the deadline for the receipt of the requested documentation.

In your reply to the RFE, you need to include the original RFE notice (make a copy for your records) and be sure to include ALL requested documents in your packet of documents. They probably won’t accept subsequent documents if you attempt to send them piecemeal.

If you are asked for a translation of a bilingual document, and one of the languages is English, you should point out that fact.

Should you be unable to provide requested documentation, explain why that would be the case, submit evidence from the relevant records office for why the document cannot be obtained and submit an affidavit (sworn statement). An example: a relative who confirms the birth date or your spouse or your self.

When you have confirmed you have gathered all the requested documentation be sure to make copies of everything. Now you’ll want to send this package of documents using either registered mail, return receipt requested or another form of trackable services such as FedEx or UPS. Confirm your package arrived prior to the deadline and keep a printout of that proof with your copy of the documents provided.

Here’s a video with the background information you’ll find useful

And to help set your expectations for how long this process might take read the following from the USCIS website USCIS Estimated Processing Time:

Request for Evidence (RFE) – Our processing time goals and associated processing timelines guide our production management efforts. On an application or set of applications where a customer could receive interim benefits, our objective is to pre-screen the application within 30 days of filing to identify whether there is any missing initial evidence. That’s because we do not want to issue an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) or advance parole based on an incomplete application simply because we haven’t conducted this initial review.

You’ll also be interested in review this information: Tips for Filing | USCIS

And remember, MotaWord is here, 24/7 to provide you with fast, certified translations at a fair price.

Certified Translations for Request for Evidence

Published on Jul 12, 2019

Summary: What is a USCIS Request for Evidence (RFE) and why are certified translations of documents required?

This is the first in a 2 part article. Find the second one here: Certified Translations for Request for Evidence, More Support

Getting a visa in the U.S. is a stressful activity. And that stress level usually rises more when the USCIS requests missing or additional information in the form of a Request for Evidence (RFE).

What is a USCIS Request For Evidence (RFE)?

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website

USCIS issues are written notices in the form of a Request For Evidence (RFE) to request missing initial or additional evidence from applicants or petitioners who filed for immigration benefits.

- USCIS Policy Manual

How to avoid RFEs

The simple answer for how to avoid getting a Request for Evidence (RFE) is to take the time to thoroughly document your application in the first place. But sometimes it cannot be avoided.

Why might a USCIS officer send an RFE?

Missing documents for a marriage-based green card - Of course, you need to prove that your marriage is real and not entered into for the purposes of staying in the U.S. What might provide that proof?

A copy of your marriage certificate (with a certified translation, if the certificate is not in English)
Documents showing your relationship, over time, are what provide evidence that your marriage is real.
Pictures of you and your spouse together over the years.
Documented evidence that you are living together. Examples are documents that show you and your spouse have the same address: driver's license; utility bill that has both names on it; or phone bills.
Proof that your finances are combined. Examples would be joint bank accounts, credit card statements, joint insurance policies, titles to property held jointly or loans where both spouses are liable for repayments.

Insufficient income from the sponsoring spouse - it might be the income is sufficient but that the documentation was seen as inadequate to support that claim.

No proof that the applicant entered the country legally - generally this means a copy of your stamped passport or a copy of your I-94 travel history. This is the form for tracking arrivals and departures, used by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) You’ll either have a paper copy of this, if you arrived before April of 2013 or if you arrived after that, you can download the I-94 here. If neither of those options works, you can request a replacement I-94 using Form I-102. (so many forms!)

Uncertified translations of documents from non-English language sources - It’s important to know that any translated documents you provide have to be certified translations. A certified translation is one where the translator certifies in writing that the translation is has been accurately translated. A certified translation has to include the translator’s name, address, date and must be signed by that translator.

Staying perfectly on topic, be sure to read how MotaWord will certify any translations we do for you at no additional cost. And don't miss, Certified Translations for USCIS - Top 5 Things You Need to Know

In our next installment, we’ll review what to do if you should receive a Request for Evidence (RFE). Here is the link to that article

And remember, MotaWord is here, 24/7 to provide you with fast, certified translations at a fair price.

Should I Translate My Blog?

Published on Jul 9, 2019

Summary: My English language blog post is performing well. Should I translate my blog into other languages?

Congratulations! You’ve been creating content that fills the needs of your audience and generates meaningful traffic for your site. Now you think it’s worth exploring whether you can build on this by translating your blog posts into other languages. What do you need to consider?

SEO Value
Expanding your audience by reusing your content in multiple languages creates more pages on your site and offers you more pages from which to have internal links. All this builds greater SEO value. And the cost is only what you might pay in translation labor or fees.

But you should know that even a well-performing blog will not necessarily perform comparably in the short term in the translated version. SEO and organic search can be long tail and your expectations should be adjusted accordingly. It could take anywhere between 18 months to 3 years before you see significant SEO results, so bear that in mind when deciding how best to allocate your time, effort, and money.

Establishing Trust For Your Brand

If your blog content is useful to English speakers it will likely be useful to speakers of different languages. Helping people by providing valuable content is a great way to build brand authority and trust. If you create useful content, your audience will be more likely to pay for your product or service. But do your research to verify if the potential market in that other language is worth the effort and expense of translating your blog

What languages should I pick?

Are there non-English inbound search terms on your site that indicate interest from readers in that language? That’s one sign that you’ll be providing value to the readers of that language.
Is there a target market you are trying to engage with this content? You need the translation to be localized for that market. What does that mean? Read one of our blog posts on localization and the importance of getting this right.

Website Localization - More Than Translation

How should I have the translation done?

Google Translate - While year by year this service is improving, it still has a long way to go before it is worth trusting your brand’s reputation with it. I’ve read blog posts that suggest that translating blog posts that have a light or whimsical tone is a safe use case for Google Translate. Not true. Humor and tone are the first casualties of machine translation by Google or any other automated translation system.
Machine Translation - Rember that rule for “Good, Cheap, Fast”. Most of the time you only get to pick two. MotaWord comes the closest to providing all three with our collaborative translation platform. Read our assessment on the current state of Machine Translation technology. Machine Translation Ready to Take Over the World? Not Yet, Pinky!
Professional Translation Agency While this is more reliable than the above two options it takes more time and is significantly more expensive than the other options. Often there will be a minimum charge that makes short blog posts prohibitively expensive to translate.
MotaWord has no minimum charges, is performed by vetted translators, a proofreader, all on a platformed optimized to produce the highest quality human translation work possible. And your job will be back in your hands faster than any single translator could ever do.

So, if you decide that translating your blog makes good business sense, make another smart move and choose MotaWord for your translation needs.

MotaWord's Language Translation API

Published on Jul 1, 2019

Summary: What is a Translation API and how can MotaWord’s human translation API save you time and money.

Let’s talk about APIs, what they do and why, in the first place, and why should anyone bother with using one. For MotaWord, we’ll make the case that our human translation API makes using our services faster and easier. And since time is money, you’ll save on both by using our API. Here’s a terrific article that takes you through this topic: What Is an API and Why Should I Use One?

With MotaWord’s Human Translation API, getting your translation related information into and out of our system is fast and seamless. But maybe you're new to APIs, so we'll take a minute to describe just what they do.

What is an API?

API is the abbreviation for Application Programming Interface. An API is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other. It’s the software ‘messenger’ that facilitates making a request of a provider application that can then deliver a response back to your application.

What are examples of APIs?

Travel booking aggregators such as Kayak, Hipmunk, Expedia are examples that many people are familiar with. Without APIs, these sites would not be able to request information from individual airlines, hotels, and car rental agencies. And, of course, you wouldn’t be able to do the actual booking of any reservation. The API is what allows your individual reservation information to be sent to a specific travel provider.

When APIs return data, it is usually in JSON or XML format. Your application will then display that data with formatting that is consistent with the look of the rest of your website.

And if you’re a more visual learner, you’ll appreciate this video:

MotaWord’s Human Translation API lets you access the best quality translations in over 90 languages, quickly and at great prices. Whether it’s a website, program or application our API can:

Provide immediate quotes for translations of your content in more than 90 languages, submitted and then returned in a variety of file formats
Accept a new translation job
Upload your style guides, glossaries, or documents to give context to your job and assist in a consistent product
Monitor the progress of the project in each language
Grab activity feeds as they happen, and
Deliver the completed, high-quality translations to where they are needed - with no human interaction

If you are a regular MotaWord customer or think you might become one, then it makes sense to consider using the MotaWord Human Translation API for all your translation work.

Learn more and get started using the MotaWord human translation API using the links below
Getting Started With MotaWord takes you through the particulars of getting set up with your MotaWord Translation API.
Translation API / Developer Portal Explains the basics of the MotaWord API and provides essential tools and documentation you’ll need to work seamlessly with MotaWord.

English Translation A Must For Coding? Maybe Not?

Published on Jun 12, 2019

Summary: Will an English translation continue to be the standard used in software development? Not if the REACT community has its way.

Once again, we bravely wade into the murky waters of the dominance of English translations in software development.

In our prior examination in this blog post, English Translation: Required for Learning to Code? there was a general consensus, that having one language, English, as the common language for developers is the most effective way to learn and share knowledge about a coding language. When code, that is originally written in English, is translated to another language it ends up isolating the non-English developer from the larger community’s knowledge base. But that means we’re asking the vast majority of the world to learn English in order to reap the benefits of the community’s knowledge and support.

‘If you don’t speak English you can’t access the community knowledge’ according to MotaWord Senior Software Engineer, Kaan Demirel. Unless developers can access the knowledge of a larger community of software developers, they’ll be at a disadvantage by not being able to learn from those who are more skilled and experienced than they are.

Is there a way to translate the English repository of knowledge into the world’s languages?

What prompted a re-examination of this topic? A team member here at MotaWord brought this article to our attention:

Is React Translated Yet? (go ahead and read it so you can follow the rest of this discussion)

You can see there’s a strong movement to translate both React (the Javascript library) and its documentation into over 30 languages. So far work has been completed on Spanish, Japanese, and Brazilian Portuguese. What’s React?

According to Wikipedia:
“React (also known as React.js or ReactJS) is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. It is maintained by Facebook and a community of individual developers and companies. React can be used as a base in the development of single-page or mobile applications, as it is optimal for fetching rapidly changing data that needs to be recorded.”

In a presentation, Translating Code to Other (Human) Languages and Back Again, software developer, Aditya Mukerjee, showed an example of how the same javascript looks in two different languages, an English translation, and a Bengali translation.

English Translation

Bengali Translation

If you’d like to learn React, here’s a well-reviewed video to get you started, Learn React - React Crash Course 2019

The pioneering software developer, Grace Hopper, envisioned a world where software could be multilingual:

“I would have thought it would be useful to NATO because they had the common verbs for the things they were going to do. And the nouns, they’d just have to have a dictionary for things they were referring to for inventory control...They’d have common nouns throughout NATO, and they could make a dictionary of common verbs and translate the program. You could write one in English and you could translate it and it could go to [the other language]. No problem, you’d have communication. It would be a limited vocabulary.”

So as of now, English is the lingua franca of the software language and business world. But that could change to Chinese in the next 15 - 20 years if they can maintain their growth. So perhaps we should all work for a knowledge sharing solution that spans all languages?

On topic - read our blog post, The Most Popular Online Language

If we can reach a place where a software language can be used in any language then we’ll be a step closer to greater mutual understanding. Not quite world peace yet but it’s movement in the right direction.

For more on this topic see: Non-English-based programming languages (Wikipedia)

Why Is MotaWord Your Next Marketing Partner?

Published on Jun 8, 2019

by Alican Kozoglu

According to macrotrends.com, with an almost 50% year-over-year increase, Alibaba made $12.398B in the third quarter of 2018. We may never be able to see the Silk Road in its prime despite China’s efforts, but thanks to the internet Alibaba could definitely take its place if it hasn’t already.

Yet a success like that does not come without hard work. If you have used their service, you know that your order might arrive late - for one, experienced this first hand - but their prices are great. And that’s not the only reason for their success. Alibaba has 17 localizations, including English and their website speaks to more than half of the world’s population in their native language. This is a pretty simple trick - but we know it works every time.

By the way - shout out to their localization partner for their good work. We don’t know who they are but we do know this industry. So we have to add, we are pretty sure that we can provide higher quality translation - not only faster but also cheaper.

But we are not only living in a post-Silk Road era as I mentioned earlier. There’s still is no trace either of the Tower of Babel nor the secret to omnilingualism. Thus MotaWord is the best partner for anyone who wants to reach a broader audience.

Let me walk you through why…

Our intention behind the design of our API was to allow people faster access to high-quality translation 24/7, in over 90 languages. Our global translator base removes the limits of circadian rhythm - basically, the business day never ends at MotaWord. We could receive your website translation project during the Australian business day, get it translated during the European business hours, get it proofread in the American business day and deliver it to you by the coming Australian business day.

That’s only one example. We are here to support every aspect of your marketing plan. Website localization? Send us your HTML files, and we will return it as such. You don’t need to explain to a developer which word goes where. Your online shop could be up and running in mere days, instead of it being a weeks-long localization project.

Press release for a new product? We could translate it for you faster than anybody else does.

Do you have an upcoming trade fair? We can work on your InDesign files and translate your banners, posters, and booklets. Your graphic designer won’t be drowned in an endless copy-paste process. The same goes for your product packages.

High quality translation has never been more achievable nor this affordable. MotaWord doesn’t have any minimum charge. If you have a three-word long text to translate, then you will only pay for those three words. Please keep in mind that, unlike our competitors, our translation/localization approach includes a mandatory proofreading step - a service provided by native speakers - and we don’t charge anything extra for that. You just need to determine your target markets and let us know which languages they speak.

The rest is on us. If you would like to start working with us as your marketing partner (we can even translate your market research), you could get your instant quote simply by clicking here.

Watch our video to learn more:

About MotaWord
MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock and over 15 thousand professional translators MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

Translation for Startups

Published on Jun 6, 2019

Summary: How and when should startups think about translation and localization? Answer: As early as possible and as a structural part of there company.

What is a startup?

One widely accepted definition of a startup is a company that has both the ambition and ability to build a high growth company by using technology. And here's what it is not - a new artisanal pizza shop. Although I love pizza, a pizzeria cannot scale.

What does a successful startup look like? It is one where the company thinks about scaling from the outset, where the structural elements of that company optimize for fast growth from the beginning. That requires planning and building to be global, knowing your content will be translated into multiple languages. It means understanding that localization means more than translating the words on your website and in your marketing materials. Localization transforms your content based on an understanding of the culture, practices, and the people in that local market

The better founders and startup teams think and build for global growth early on in their development. They think beyond their local market. In an interview for Starta Ventures last year I spoke with Eveline Buchatskiy, Managing Partner of One One Ventures in Boston. She paints a vivid picture of what startups will look like in the coming years. (she may be conservative in her time estimate)

Entrepreneurs in 5 to 10 years will think globally and may choose to be based in London because there you can easily find capital, have the R&D in Ukraine, which is just 3 hours away on a plane, and have the marketing and sales team in New York. That’s the kind of entrepreneur we’re going see in the future and that’s what I think is very exciting. - Eveline Buchatskiy

Get the full book, The Very Hungry VC: Trends and Opportunities

Video: Eveline Buchatskiy (EMBA'08D) on Investing in Immigrants

Now that we have defined a startup, let's think about how we should think about our presence across multiple markets. This is the localization part and naturally, that includes the translation part.

For every market where you do business, you need to look, sound, and behave as if you were native to that locale. You’ll see from the suggestions below that localizing - i.e. looking, sounding and being native to a market takes much more than a bilingual dictionary.

Build Your Online Reputation

Establish trust. This is about showing the user that you are aware of and responsive to their needs and that you can meet those needs on their terms.
Establish authority. Be the go-to source of information and advice on your company’s area of expertise. On social media, share good, relevant content and create useful content that helps others in your sphere. Give until it hurts. Then do it again next week. Consistency matters.

Share content for a wider audience

Related to the prior suggestion, you can enlarge your audience by pulling in others who have related issues. Everyone who has a business cares about marketing, sales, product development, hiring and retaining the best talent and more. Add tags for topics that pull in people from beyond your core audience. Tag people (with larger followings than yours) if your content or resharing would interest that person.

Build Local Relationships

Create locally relevant content (Read up on this topic here)
Collaborate with local influencers and local sales experts
For companies with a ‘bricks & mortar’ component - think Warby Parker - embed a google map so users can find you. Have a ‘Call now’ button in Google My Business
Wherever you have a physical presence, be active in that community. Sponsor events, local schools, universities to increase your brand recognition and reputation.
Monitor and be active on social media to associate your brand with a geographic region and to be a positive contributor in that region.
Look for, and ask for Customer Generated Content (CGC). Nothing is as powerful as an authentic testimonial from a customer. (see How to Attract Customers With Localized Content Marketing )

Adopt individualized marketing approaches - If your marketing strategy started in your home market, don't assume that the same strategy will work in a different country. A localization expert can guide you so you use the right channels, set the right tone and use language that is effective in producing the desired outcome. What works in one locale will not necessarily work in the specific locality you are entering. Optimize for the desired outcome and not to reproduce a previously effective strategy.

Keep your message updated - By working with a trusted translation company, you can economically maintain your site’s ever-changing content to keep your users engaged, improve your rankings with search engines, and continue to stay relevant in your field. Use MotaWord’s API to translate only those portions of your site that have changed. We’ll never charge you more than is absolutely necessary. When you have fresh, relevant content, that translates into (see what I did there?) improved SEO rankings. We talked about that in greater detail in another post in Website Localization - More Than Translation.

And for more on localization, you should read, Why You Should Run Your Website Localization Project on MotaWord

The best startups thinking globally. But even if you aren't a startup, you can think like one.

MotaWord is a global translation platform with over 16 thousand professionals and vetted translators working to deliver high-quality translations in 80+ languages. MotaWord serves clients in their native language and gives them instant quotes thanks to its localized website and translations are done 20x faster and 60% cheaper than agencies.

English Translation: Who Is Worthy of Translation

Published on Jun 5, 2019

The Professional Translation of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales

When people use the term, “literary canon”, they mean those books, plays, poems or other written works that are considered important or influential at a time and place in history. But the term, “is considered” is problematic. It hides behind anonymity. Who does the considering? Is this invisible group accountable for who and what is considered important or influential?

This is at the heart of any explicit or implicit selection process that creates the canon of any field.

Translating the female voice, a piece recently published on Varsity.co.uk cites the limited number of English translations of the works of popular female French writers from the late 1600s and early 1700s. These writers were part of a group that wrote about fairy tales. The writers were Marie Catherine d'Aulnoy, Charlotte-Rose de Caumont La Force, Marie-Jeanne Lhéritier, and Charles Perrault. This last name on the list is the only man among this group. In fact, it was Marie Catherine d’Aulnoy who coined the term “contes de fées” (fairy tales) that came to define a literary genre. Yet the name most associated with fairy tales is Charles Perrault.

Who were these women and, 300 years later, why is it so difficult to find an English translation of their work? Let me focus on one of these women.

Marie Catherine d'Aulnoy, born in either 1850 or 1851 and a member of the nobility, was given away in marriage at the age of 15. Her husband was accused of treasonous speech against the king, spent 3 years in the Bastille after which he convinced the court that it was his accusers who were treasonous. They were executed instead. It deserves mentioning that these accusers were said to be the lovers of his wife, Marie Catherine d’Aulnoy and her mother. Her mother fled to England and Mme d’Aulnoy escaped arrest by hiding in a church. Other intrigues ensued that make for salacious reading for those who love 300-year-old soap operas. But when the dust settled Mme d’Aulnoy retired from Paris social life and for the next twenty years pursued a life as a writer. She was widely published and so well regarded that she was elected to membership of the Paduan Accademia dei Ricovatri in Italy. Among these writings were two collections of fairy tales. The account in Wikipedia describes her fairy tales in this way, “... Much of her writing created a world of animal brides and grooms, where love and happiness came to heroines after surmounting great obstacles.”

If you search Amazon.com for Charles Perrault you’ll find 675 results. Marie Catherine d'Aulnoy yields 140 results. Charlotte-Rose de Caumont La Force returns 32 results. Marie-Jeanne Lhéritier 15 results.

What’s the point here? Equal opportunity does not mean equal outcomes. Should there be an equal number of English translations for all works of French literature? Of course not. But in the case described here, there was a 3 to 1 ratio of women to men. Each of them was a successful writer. Yet the man has had significantly more English translations - and into other languages as well - than his female contemporaries. The net result amplifies itself over time. If there is an English translation of a literary work then it must have been worth translating. That, in turn, begets other English translations.

Again, why should we care if there are English translations of writers who wrote over 300 years ago? Because we perpetuate a false version of history if we don’t fairly represent their contributions to the literary activities of that time. That’s an injustice both to the women of that time and to everyone today. We all deserve the right to see an accurate representation of history.

Publishers, translators, academicians should make a dedicated effort to more accurately represent the work that was done by everyone of that era. They should do this not to diminish the work of Charles Perrault or even to claim the superiority of his female contemporaries. But once again, there should be an honest account of historical events.

You might also like:

A Little History of the World

This is a tale of an author, whose work was so popular that his book was translated into 25 languages. But, believing that only he could do the English language version justice, reserved for himself, the right to translate it into English. That was not fated to be, as he died before completing the work. His granddaughter and another translator completed that work.

Madame d'Aulnoy, her life and Fairy Tales

Website localization - More Than Translation

Published on May 31, 2019

Why Should You Run Your Website Localization Project On Motaword?

Summary: Website localization requires multiple elements for your company to effectively function in a different country. Understand the basics when your company enters new markets.

This post puts the role of language translation into a larger context of website localization. But first, we’ll review some of the language translation aspects of website localization.

Localization Style Guide This is the set of rules for translators that will determine how your company will look, sound and behave in a new market. These guidelines will enable the company’s content to conform with and natively reflect this new market.

What are some of the components of a localization style guide:

A clearly defined writing style
A defined set of personas being addressed. Besides language spoken, what is the range of education levels, beliefs (religious or other), value systems, cultural habits and traditions of the audience you are speaking to and with? (don’t forget customer service!)
You’ll need to determine whether the goal is to faithfully recreate the content or creatively recreate the desired outcome of the source content
Grammatical forms preferred (passive vs. active voice, imperative or infinitive)
How to use acronyms and initializations (what’s the difference?)
A complete translation glossary of products and services from source to the target language
How will the target language content treat slogans?

Goya Foods had a simple enough slogan, “Si es Goya, tiene que ser bueno”. A direct translation, "If it's Goya, it has to be good" was not a problem. However… when Perdue Chicken entered the Spanish market they made this epically bad translation: "It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken". This became, "It takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate”. That's food for thought, isn't it?

Read these relevant posts on Style Guides and on how to localize the content on your website:

What is a Style Guide

What else should you consider when planning website localization? You should also look into the functionality of your website. We’ll touch on a few things to get you thinking and when ready, you should hire qualified people to implement this part of the website localization project.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in the target language. How do users in this language search for your products or services? Have a local SEO expert in your corner to be sure your content can rank well in search engine results and be found by your potential customers.

Use Hreflnag tags, e.g. hreflang="en"(for English) and hreflang="es" (for Espaňol) so Google knows which page to list in a given country. Different versions of the same language, such as US, Australia or the UK should have tags that identify each of them as well.

Page Load Speed Sites that load quickly rank higher in search results. A maximum of three seconds is what Google recommends. What affects load time? The size of image files, bloated CSS or HTML files, and too many ads are among the guilty parties. And if the internet is generally slow in the country, you should consider building a simplified version of your website. Google provides a useful tool with its PageSpeed Insights that offers concrete suggestions on how to improve the speed of your site.

Identify Local Sites for Backlinks The most effective website localization strategies will plan on building relationships with local websites for links back to your local site. The search engine algorithms are too sophisticated to do this quickly so don’t fall for claims that know how to ‘hack’ this. It won’t work. Produce high-quality content to build natural backlinks from relevant sites. Over time your Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) rankings will increase.

What URL Structure Will You Use There are three options possible.

Option One: Create a completely new localized website such as mybusiness.de (Germany). Since this is a stand-alone site it won’t be able to take advantage of the value of the original site’s page rankings. (remember pages are ranked and not entire websites)

Option Two: Create a subdomain as part of your original website. The URL of our example would be de.mybusiness.com. This lets the search engines know the country that the page is intended for.

Option three: Create subfolders on your existing English language website for the localized pages. Example, mybusiness.com/de/home/. An advantage for this option would be you can build on any existing SEO work you’ve done and Google will evaluate your local pages using the ranking of the original site and associated backlinks.

Bear in mind that there is debate on which is the optimal SEO strategy and SEO is an ever-changing landscape. Consult with a trusted localization expert with a reputation for being up-to-date on the field.

More than one-third of the world’s sites are built on WordPress so you and your developer team might find this video useful in planning your website localization work.

WordPress Multilingual Class, #2: Website Localization and Internationalization

Dutch Translation - Localize for This Market?

Published on May 28, 2019

Speak To Global Customers In Their Own Language

Summary: With 90% of people in the Netherlands speaking English, do you need a Dutch translation of your website? Yes And we’ll tell you why.

Congratulations! Your company is doing well in the US market and you are now looking at other markets to enter to expand your customer base and grow your revenue. Most global companies, on average, translate their content into 32 different languages. As you begin to globalize you’ll absolutely want to do a Dutch translation of your content. English to Dutch translations are among the most frequently ordered languages on the MotaWord platform. As I cite chapter, verse, and stats on the Netherlands, you’ll see why.

The Netherlands is not a large country in terms of landmass. For those in the US, think twice the size of New Jersy or one-sixteenth the size of Texas. But in spite of being a relatively small country, their GDP is $933 billion USD (est. 2019) and by 2023 is estimated to grow to $1.1 trillion dollars (Statistics Times). And with a population of 17 million people, two million fewer than New York State, the Netherlands still manages to achieve a ranking as the 17th largest economy in the world and the 6th largest economy in Europe.

As they used to say in the Gold Rush, “There’s gold in them thar hills!” You most certainly need to have a Dutch translation of your online content if you hope to win a share of this market.
The Largest Companies In The Netherlands

What are the major companies in The Netherlands? Among them are names that many will recognize as being international companies and might surprise you for being Dutch in origin. They are:

Royal Dutch Shell, the oil and gas energy company operating in 70 countries
ING, the banking and finance company who have clients in over 40 countries and over 75,000 employees around the world
Unilever the consumer goods company that has evolved into a company focused on higher-end personal care products. Their products are available in nearly 190 countries. (almost every country worldwide)
Ahold Delhaize is a supermarket group that also has interests in health and beauty products and has approximately 6,500 stores in 11 countries
Aegon is a multinational insurance, asset management, and pension company that employs over 31,000 people as is known in the US as Transamerica. They serve over 16 countries.
Rabobank is unusual for being a cooperative of 129 separate entities doing sustainable banking and financial services with specialties in food and agricultural financing.
Philips, originally a lighting company, in 2014 turned to focus on healthcare.
GasTerra, as the name might imply, is a natural gas sector and is owned by Royal Dutch Shell (25%), ExxonMobil (25%), and the Dutch government (50%).
SHV is a privately held holding company with diverse holdings in transport, retail, oil, food, and financial services
Heineken, founded over 150 years ago, owns more than 165 breweries in over 70 countries. It is still majority-owned by the Heineken family

You’ve probably noticed in the above company descriptions that I included the number of countries each of them operates in. This is to stress that translating your company’s content into the language of a new market is the minimum requirement for entering that market. So it is with a Dutch translation.

What languages are spoken in The Netherlands?

(Source: WorldAtlas.com)

When US citizens travel to The Netherlands they’ll discover there is very little need for a Dutch translation More than 90% of the population speak English. The next most widely spoken second languages are German (71%), French (29%) and Spanish (5%). If you are American and plan to travel there, you’ll have to work a bit to practice your Dutch.

So then, why do the Dutch prefer to read online content in Dutch? For the same reason you or I prefer to read content in our native language. Comfort. Especially if we are doing something as emotionally charged as making a purchase decision. It’s up to businesses to have a Dutch translation to ‘meet their customers where they live’. We discussed this in an earlier blog post you’ll appreciate:

Online and Mobile Usage

(as of 2017 statistica.com)

As of 2017, an astonishing 98% of Dutch households had broadband internet access (2017 cbs.nl) In the graphic below you’ll see that this is a greater percentage of connectivity than any other nation in Europe.

Add to that the fact that 87% of all Dutch people (tied with Sweden) have mobile internet access and you’ll agree that the Netherlands is a prize market to be a part of. By comparison, 64% of people in the European Union have mobile internet access.

E-commerce

(Source: Eshopworld.com)

According to the UN Conference on Trade and Development 76% of the Dutch population between 15 and older shop online. The combined home-based and mobile internet penetration represent a special opportunity to target a rich, dense market of consumers. What could a Dutch translation of your content open for you? Consider this: In 2018, the Netherlands was number one in the rankings of Business-to-consumer e-commerce markets. (UN Conference on Trade and Development)

You won’t be quizzed on any of the data cited here but by now you can see that having a Dutch translation of your content provides you a passport to a prosperous market and will be money well spent.

After watching this video you’ll understand, on a visceral level, why you should do a Dutch translation of your content, even though more Dutch speak English.

Now try this - copy all the text from the home page of your website into a Word or Google document and check the word count. Now go to our pricing page and put that word count into the relevant field. Now you’ll see how simple and affordable this translating your content will be.

Machine Translation Ready to Take Over the World? Not yet, Pinky!

Published on May 28, 2019

German Translation? Which German?

Summary: Machine translation quality is not near the equal of trained human translators. Here are areas where technology fails.

Recently I read an interesting article on Neural Machine Translation, Has AI surpassed humans at translation? Not even close!, that strongly argues that machine translation, or more strictly, Neural Machine Translation (NMT) is not nearly advanced enough to replace competent human translators.

What’s the problem?

On a daily basis, we read about the triumphs of IBM’s Watson, that Google Translate is heavily used for casual reading of foreign publications and auto-translation of websites, and Facebook offers instant translations of content and comment provided in other languages. We seem to be in a Golden Age of quality translation on demand. Is that the case?

The short answer: no.

When reviewing translation with a rigorous standard of what constitutes quality, we find there are consistent issues of gender bias, a lack of understanding context, nonsensical output and the larger issue of how to judge when a translation is accurate. So far, judging the quality of a translation remains very expensive because only a fully bilingual person is able to make this determination.

There is a metric for machine translation. It’s called the BLEU score. That stands for bilingual evaluation understudy.

The BLEU score

This is a scoring system that compares the machine translation against a set of known human translations of good quality. Quality is defined as “the closer a machine translation is to a professional human translation, the better it is”. Each sentence is graded individually for quality and then the average of all scores over the entire corpus, i.e. work being translated, is calculated. That average score is the score then used as the score for the work.

Interestingly, there is no measurement of intelligibility or grammatically correctness. Neither is there any comparison among the sentences to determine if they are contextually correct. You can see how this measure of machine translation quality has severe limits.

Read a more detailed explanation here.

Why Context Matters

In the article that prompted this blog, the author uses this example: An article about a music concert quotes someone saying, “I’m a huge metal fan”. When translated into French by machine translation it becomes, “Je suis un énorme ventilateur en métal” (“I’m a large ventilator made of metal.”) The difficult task of understanding context causes a failing grade. At some point, the technology will be able to detect indicators of context such as, ‘concert’, ‘event’, ‘music’, ‘festival’, ‘arena’, ‘theater’ or other words/phrases humans easily use to shape our sense of context. But today this ambiguity can elude the capabilities of Neural Machine Translation to determine the correct meaning of both ‘metal’ and ‘fan’

For more background on understanding the concepts of translation, machine translation, and neural machine translation you might watch this lecture from the Standford University School of Engineering.

Neural Machine Translation and Models with Attention

For more on the importance of understanding context, the difference between a globalized translation versus a localized translation you can read any of the following:

Spanish Translation For Your Website: Which Spanish?

French Translation? Which French?

Given the nascent state of translation technology, what should businesses do to get the most accurate, faithful translations quickly and at a fair price? MotaWord has an answer. Our AI-supported platform allows translators to work on a project simultaneously, without using human project managers. Customers can upload style guides and glossaries to customize their translation. These resources are shared among all the translators working on the project to produce accurate translations in less time. And customers can watch, in real-time, as translators work on their projects.

Contact us to see we can meet all of your translation needs.

English Translations Wanted By PEN/Heim Translation Fund

Published on May 23, 2019

It was only after his death that his generosity was unveiled. Michael Henry Heim was a brilliant linguist and Professor of Slavic Languages and Literature at UCLA. He worked actively in 10 languages but is said to have had mastery of 16 languages. Over a 30 year-plus career he created English language translations of the works of Milan Kundera, Günter Grass, Danilo Kiš, Karel Čapek, Péter Esterházy, George Konrad, Jan Neruda, Sasha Sokolov, and Bohumil Hrabal.

Since his death, it became known that he and his wife, Priscilla, anonymously funded the PEN Translation Fund with a total of $734,000. The goal was to support the creation of English translations of important works from other countries. It’s a testament to Heim’s modesty that in the announcement of his death in October of 2012 the PEN press release included this quote:

Esther Allen, chair of the PEN Translation Committee when the Fund was created, describes Mike as “enormously embarrassed at the thought of being publicly associated with the donation, having as he did a visceral horror of money, which he associated with excess and waste and all of the things he most deplored.”

Where does an academic come by such a large sum of money? The answer turns out to be simple. Michael Henry Heim’s father died in WW II and the death benefit his mother received was carefully invested. Over time, and with frugal living they grew this into the large sum that made up the initial fund.

That degree of modesty and thrift is rare in any era.

To get a first-hand sense of this fascinating person, watch this video of a talk he gave on,
Michael Henry Heim discusses his translation of WONDER by Hugo Claus

Since its inception, the fund has awarded grants of between $2,000 and $10,000 to almost 200 translators to support their English translations of book-length works. These works can be fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, or drama that have not previously appeared in English. The goal of the fund is to encourage translators to take on new book-length English translation works they may not otherwise attempt or be able to finish. Additionally, any application for this grant that proposes to undertake an English translation of an Italian work will automatically be considered for a PEN Grant For The English Translation of Italian Literature ($5,000)

For those looking for additional sources of grants in the translation field, you can also go here:
National Endowment for the Humanities - Scholarly Editions and Translations Grants and here, PEN Translation Fund Grants

At MotaWord we appreciate the work of literary translators. Most of the work we do is not centered on literature but we do know the importance of master writers and master translators in making our work better. In fact, our "Famous Translators" series that you can enjoy reading is a testament to the people who made our profession stand out.

Literary translation is an effort that requires finding a balance between representing the strict meaning of a text in another language while recreating the feel of the original text. As such, defining success has an element of subjectivity. And it should be noted that many of the grant recipients have received wider recognition from many literary groups. Among these are the Northern California Book Award for Translation, the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and many others.

For those who are working in Italian-to-English translations, it’s worth noting that anyone working in that language pair who applies for a PEN/Heim Grant will automatically be considered for a PEN Grant For The English Translation Of Italian Literature ($5,000).

Additional grant opportunities for translators, not only English translations, can be found here: National Endowment for the Humanities - Scholarly Editions and Translations Grants

The deadline to apply for this grant is June 1, 2019. (that’s soon!) so if this could help your translation work please go here to learn more and apply

MotaWord has written about various literary translators and we’d like to share a few here:
Playing With Portuguese: Giovanni Pontiero's Translations
High-quality Translation Philosophy With Jorge Luis Borges - How can you not love a writer who can say, “The original is unfaithful to the translation.” It’s wonderfully paradoxical while articulating a deeper truth about the art and craft of translating.

Korean Translation - From Three MotaWord Translators

Published on May 20, 2019

10 Fascinating Korean Words That Have No English Translation

Summary: Korean translations can be tricky, with both meaning and style challenges. MotaWords translators give us an inside view of the challenges and rewards of Korean translations.

After studying English in universities, both Jasmine Kim and Yoon Seo brought their Korean translation skills to a professional level by reading English works extensively. For Jasmine, this led to work as a project manager at a translation agency, a job she held for five years. Stanley Nam’s path was slightly less conventional. Let’s hear how each of them describes their journey.

Stanley Nam: I was lucky to serve as an Army Interpreter for my mandatory military service. As the Korean army frequently runs joint war games with the US, there is a high demand for middlemen who understand both two languages and the military settings in Korea. My primary job description included translating manuals to be used in the field, and promoting communication between the US and Korean personnel. Brevity and accuracy were vital in the two-year training, so after I finished the service I was confident in going into professional translation. From then on, I have worked for numerous clients both in Korea and Canada, where I am currently located. MotaWord is one of a kind as it let me freely work whenever I can and wherever I am.

Jasmine Kim: As a person who enjoys challenging new things that are especially related to English, I love reading interesting content, particularly when it involves languages. I have studied English interpretation and translation at university and worked as a project manager at a translating agency for five years. These experiences brought me to this wonderful position of a freelance translator working new and interesting tasks every day!

Yoon Seo: I continue to study English and I read articles and columns to acquire the vocabulary and information on corresponding professions. This lets me translate works smoothly into Korean.

Most often, what languages pairs do you work in and in which direction?

Jasmine Kim: Generally I work in English to Korean translation or proofreading jobs, which I am familiar with, and this language pair and direction occupy most of my projects. I also handle Korean to English translation jobs when my schedule allows me.

Stanley Nam: I mostly translate from English to Korean. Besides, there is also high demand among the Korean researchers who need their scholarly works to be translated into English, so I often translate articles in business (my major in college) to be made acceptable to international journals.

Yoon Seo: I work in English to Korean translations.

Describe a typical day working on a MotaWord translation job?

Yoon Seo: I'm holding onto my laptop because I have to compete with other translators to get a real-time translation. When I don't have a laptop, I might miss a project.

OK, Yoon, we’re going to have to get more work for the Korean translators so you don’t have to worry about this.

Stanley Nam: MotaWord notifies me through e-mail when there is a project I can work on. When I am not on other projects, I can devote my whole working time to that project. Even while I am working on other projects, I can spare some time contributing to the MotaWord project as a side job. What I love about MotaWord projects is that I can be a part of many other competitive translators and do not need to work on my own. I can always learn from what others have translated, especially if there is already a Mandarin translation of the English phrase that I try to translate into Korean. This is very helpful as I speak Mandarin as well.

Jasmine Kim: I try to wake up early because I find the morning hours to be the most productive. I am usually tied up with housework until I get a new job. When I get a notification mail regarding “New translation project” from MotaWord, I dash to my computer and enjoy translating.

Any advice for beginning translators?

Stanley Nam: Try to learn from language pairs done by other translators. There are also bilingual newspapers that provide pairs of Korean and English sentences of the same meaning. See how the journalists wrote the same situation in the two languages. By learning, I do not mean blindly following previous examples. Be critical about them and think about how you can do better.

This is a good place to jump in to suggest you watch this thoughtful video on the Korean language. This Korean language teacher thinks deeply about language learning in general. You'll enjoy this.

Why is it so difficult to translate between English and Korean?

Jasmine Kim: One of my favorite maxims is "He who has dreamed for long resembles his dream" said by a French novelist, Andre Malraux. I am sure that it is definitely true since I have become the person I dreamed of a few years ago. I strongly believe whoever dreams will see the dream turn out to be real.

Yoon Seo: Get a good understanding of the style of the document and the subject area required.

The three of you have my respect and the respect of the MotaWord team. The more I learn about Korean translations and the richness of the Korean language the more impressed I become. In my research, I found examples of that richness:

And here’s a web page where you’ll read and hear, Korean Core 100 Word List

For more information on Korean translations you might also like:

Korean Translation is Hard. Ask Koreans.

Korean Translation, why?

English Translation - Whose English?

Published on May 15, 2019

Summary: Variants in a language can be big or small. Understanding the difference is crucial when considering an English translation of your content. Go local or global?

George Bernard Shaw, the English writer never said the following: “The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language.” In his published works there’s no record that he ever said this but still, people give him credit for this quote.
Oscar Wilde, another Brit with a gift for a clever line, is attributed with, “We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.”

The larger point - there can be confusion and misunderstanding within what is called one language. For some Americans traveling in England, an English translation might be necessary to understand what the locals are saying.

Or when someone in Australia says the word, “barbie”, an American might think of the doll that can be dressed in an endless array of clothing styles. They’d be wrong. For Australians ‘barbie’ means barbequed meat.

Here’s a fun post found on 20 Australian Words That Mean Something Totally Different in the U.S.
And an American or Australian might need an English translation of these 20 British Words That Mean Something Totally Different in the U.S. Among, “shag”, “rubber”, “hooker” and “pants” there are plenty of ways to have embarrassing misunderstandings with words we think we understand.

What do all of these amusing examples mean for a business person looking to market internationally? That’s where things get serious. But the idea of needing an English translation for content in English is not far fetched. You cannot assume that common language in one country will be understood or have the same connotations in a different country.

To illustrate: You’ll enjoy this video that underscores how we often don’t understand each other, even when we speak a common language.

Americans Don’t Understand English

The beautiful ways different cultures sign emails, from the BBC’s website. (the British take on international affairs and culture is always a fun read) This piece highlights how our cultural differences in writing emails can have real repercussions in the business world.

You could easily alienate a client or be misunderstood by a coworker. Being in the U.S. - New York City in specific - you wouldn't give a second thought to signing a letter, “Regards,”. But after reading this article you might realize that what some consider to be a pleasant tip-of-the-hat can be read as aloof and impolite in other English speaking locales. Since that would never be the intention, it is safer to sign off with “Best regards” or “Kind regards” or maybe even a “Warm regards”.

In taking a company to market in other countries, understanding nuance in a language is critical. No one cares what you meant to say if your language is understood as saying something else. And that’s the risk one encounters when dealing with other cultures. Something said innocently can be taken badly.

MotaWord’s co-founder, Evren Ay, when writing about localizing your content put it best: Speak to Global Customers in Their Own Language.

Imagine going to Amazon.com and trying to shop in a different language. Talk about a poor user experience! No sensible company does that in 2019. A company that’s serious about globalizing will, on average, translate their content into 32 different languages. That’s not merely considerate. It’s good business.

So here’s some advice on entering new markets. One, localize your content. Use an expert with knowledge of the local market, language, and customs for business communications. And second, go that next step by learning how to communicate one-on-one with your customers in that market. This is a must-have and not a nice-to-have. You’ll need to know how people communicate in writing to be effective with customer service and any in-country partners.

~~Have a nice day,~~
~~Regards,~~
~~Ciao for now,~~
~~Ta ta,~~

Where are we? Ah yes! In the U.S.A. No English translation is necessary.
Best regards,
Marcos

PS - At MotaWord we truly understand how to localize your content and would love to take that task off of your hands. See how affordable we can be.

Choosing a Translation Agency: What You Need To Know

Published on May 10, 2019

Summary: Choosing a translation agency is an important decision. Learn best practices from a modern, cloud-based collaborative translation platform - MotaWord

How does a modern translation company use the latest software tools to augment trained translators? And what advantages does that give them over a traditional translation agency?

To start - when a traditional translation company puts up a website that does not make them modern, and certainly not digital. The actual quoting, translation, delivery and housekeeping functions are still typically done by a project manager and a single translator with no technology assisting that work.

MotaWord is natively digital. The MotaWord platform facilitates and improves the work of translators. Our translators work on a document simultaneously via a unique collaboration platform. Unlike a traditional translation agency, MotaWord’s translators can see each other’s work in real-time. They learn from and improve each other’s work while adding a layer of accountability to the process that does not exist with a single translator working on a document. And the MotaWord platform employs translation memory technology and our Translator Quality Score Algorithm for ever-improving work. Read more on how we constantly monitor the translation quality: Ensuring Accurate Translations With MotaWord

The demand for translations, both in personal and business life, is ever increasing as the economy continues to globalize. This massive growth in demand makes it impractical to do translations as we’ve done them for hundreds of years. But humans are still needed to produce accurate, reliable translations. In order to understand why the 46 billion dollar a year translation industry is still dominated by humans, it makes sense to look at the current state of "Machine Translations". Here is some background on computer translations.
Terms to understand

"Word-based” and "Phrase-based” translations were used in early translation software. The results were very rough translations, good only for getting a basic understanding of what the text was trying to convey. This type of machine translation is almost nearly abandoned as it does not yield reliable results. The next stage of machine translation was:

Machine or Neural Machine Translation (NMT) - this software enhanced translation performance by using neural networks to learn to translate entire sentences without breaking them down into smaller parts. This system then uses the prior text to create a context where further translations can be performed. While NMT is much better than the early machine translations, they are still not ready for prime time and might not be for some while yet.

Read more about Neural Machine Translation

And watch this video: Neural Machine Translation Tutorial - An introduction to Neural Machine Translation

Translation memory technology is a linguistic database that captures and saves repetitive phrases for future use. It enables translators to work faster and lower the cost of your translation projects by eliminating the need to translate repetitive phrases. It is important to note that this technology does not replace human translators; rather, it augments translators' skills to provide faster and more accurate translations. This is what MotaWord does. MotaWord’s platform equips translators with this transformative technology.

Read more on translation memory technology

Pricing Differences
Traditional Translation Agencies: Minimum prices are common for them. This makes small jobs too expensive to be practical. Prices begin at $29 and up. Many translation agencies charge different rates for translating different languages.

MotaWord: No minimum - Just $0.14 per word. No contracts. No commitment. Whatever the language pair.

File Types Are Accepted
Traditional translation agencies accept a limited range of file types and return the translation in a limited range of file types.
MotaWord can ingest the major office suite files, rich text, plain text, as well as 25 machine-readable formats. Learn more here

Speed of Delivery
Traditional translation agencies: Minimum delivery time is 6 - 24 hours for the ‘top-rated companies’ based on our internal research. And that only after you pay a "rush fee" for the speedy service.

MotaWord’s platform is available 24/7. The moment your job comes in translators can begin to work on it. And you can see their work and offer guidance in real time. So whether it’s a single page or one hundred pages your job will be finished significantly faster than a traditional translation service. About 20 times faster.

When looking at translation services be sure your choice has the right people and the breadth of languages to handle both your current needs and long term needs. Then be sure your choice of a translation service uses the best technology to provide accurate, fast translations at a fair price. Your choice should be MotaWord.

Any questions about translations? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We stand ready to work with you.

Certified translations for USCIS - Top 5 Things You Need to Know

Published on May 7, 2019

Summary: Certified translations for USCIS are required for foreign language documents supporting citizenship or naturalization applications. What documents are required? What should you pay attention to?

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is that part of the federal government that has jurisdiction over citizenship and immigration issues.

1. What is a certificate of translation?
A formal statement in which a translator shows that they have accurately translated a foreign-language document into English. Any foreign language document must be accompanied by a full English translation that the translator has certified as complete and correct, and by the translator's certification that they are competent to translate the foreign language into English.

2. Who needs this?
Anyone who is immigrating to the United States of America (USA) or applying for naturalization.

3. What documents need to be certified?
Any and all documents submitted to support an application or petition are required to also have an English translation. This translation must be accompanied by a certification from the translator that attests the translation is both complete, accurate and that the translator is competent. Examples include birth certificates, marriage certificates, college transcripts, and police records.

And it’s important to know what information the USCIS requires in a document. In some cases where the original document is lengthy countries will issue an ‘extract’ version of the document. These ‘extract’ documents will be accepted only if they contain the required information and if they were produced by an authorized official. (the “keeper of record”)

4. Do all translators offer this service?
No, not all translation services provide this service. Be sure that this service is offered before you engage with any translation service. MotaWord will usually return your certified translation within hours of being submitted. Read more about MotaWord’s USCIS certified translations here. or watch our Video: MotaWord Certified Translation

5. When am I required to have certified translations?
There are several scenarios in which you’ll need your non-English documents to have certified translations. Those include:

Legal proceedings such as trials or hearings
Immigration applications
College applications
Corporate and Business documentation
- Documents might include, financial reports, contracts, patent filings. Additionally, businesses hiring a new employee may require: medical records, bank statements, passports, and visas

Here is one of the main reasons why you should choose MotaWord to handle your certified translations for USCIS. The largest immigration platform in the United States does and we are proud of our work with them. You can read more about how MotaWord provides USCIS ready translation service to Envoy Global every day, saving time, money and hassle to their clients here: https://www.motaword.com/cases/certified-translations-envoy

Useful Resources

How do I apply for U.S. citizenship? (PDF)
USCIS Resources in Other Languages

English Translation: Required for Learning to Code?

Published on May 6, 2019

Summary: For non-English speaking computer programming students, do the benefits of learning to code in an “English translation” outweigh learning in a foreign language?

Reading this article on Wired.com CODING IS FOR EVERYONE—AS LONG AS YOU SPEAK ENGLISH got me thinking about language learning and learning to be a software developer.

In software programming, there are keywords that are part of the vocabulary used to write a given software program. Most software languages originated in an English language speaking country. So to write code in that programming language, developers have had to learn the English-based vocabulary. Does this disadvantage non-English speakers learn to write code? And what advantages might there be in learning a programming language in what might be called, an English translation or version?

The challenge could be daunting. But many people believe that the benefits of a large community who share the same code and support resources far outweigh the negatives of learning to code in English-based or an English translation version.

And working with MotaWord's software developers, all of whom are not native English speakers, I have the perfect group to talk to about English translations, reading code, and writing code in English. I grabbed MotaWord's co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Oytun Tez for his perspective. Below is an interview, edited for length and clarity.

MD: Ok, thanks for agreeing to this interview. This is a series of questions about learning English and your journey as a programmer. How old were you when you learned to speak English?

OT: I probably started learning English and coding at the same time, which is around like 10 or 12 years old.

MD: Did you encounter English language keywords in those programming languages, separately from your conversational English?

OT: Definitely. I had two vocabularies. One is coding English vocabulary. And one is the social vocabulary. So for instance, I learned many keywords such as Declare, and Constant. Those things are coming from my coding vocabulary. Whereas I wasn't really exposed to those words in my social English. There's a big alignment there, they support each other.

MD: Would it have been easier to learn coding had it been in Turkish, your native language?

OT: I don't think so. I don't think it would have a huge contribution to that, really.
It may even be better to learn it in English as a second language because coding is a different mindset. You don't see that kind of mindset in real life. So it's okay to learn this vocabulary so that you have a more coherent understanding of that paradigm.

MD: ...because natural language, our conversational language is so nuanced. It has connotations. It doesn't have the strictness and formality of mathematical language.

OT: Yeah, because you're learning that alien language in a very structured, very strict way as you said. I guess it lets you concentrate on just the content of the word instead of its relations with social life. Like when I see “Class”, which is a coding term. I don't immediately remember a classroom. Because I don't have that native connection. But now I have a very good understanding of “Class” in programming, unrelated to the social word “Class”.

MD: Would you guess that say, a Chinese or Korean person would find viewing an English translation or version to be a barrier when learning to code?

OT: I think the formal differences such as the shape of the expression - you only see them in the first few experiences of learning how to code. So after a month, let's say, you're not really seeing those things. Because they're just shapes for you. And you have other meanings about those shapes in your mind. As long as you know how to type then it doesn't matter what they look like. They could just consider it the coding language. It doesn't really have to be in the Latin alphabet. It can be any language as long as I know which character is which meaning.

MD: Right. So you have a visual association between those characters and the concepts that they represent.

OT: Yeah. Now that you ask, I'm imagining a programming language with Chinese characters. Let's say they don't look as complicated as they do now to me. I guess I could have a similar experience. It will be alien until I learned the syntax and how to memorize those symbols. And then it's just using them.

MD: Right. Well, thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts on learning to code, English translations, and learning to
code as a non-native English speaker.

Supporting Oytun Tez’s view is a video:

Speaking with another team member here at MotaWord, Priya Ajit, Director of Business Development, she had some additional thoughts:

In my opinion, I think it will be difficult to have a multilingual software language, as there will be very limited online resources & communities of developers. All the current software languages have existing vast online resources to help and guide programmers in case of any issue or to further enhance their knowledge. This might not be a possibility in case of a multilingual software language.

However, if this can be solved, then it would definitely increase the possibility for any person to become a programmer even if his/her knowledge of the English language is limited or none.

There are, in fact, are examples of programming languages that were both created and exits in non-English languages. These typically have their English translation versions too. You can read more here:
Non-English-based programming languages (Wikipedia)

And if you’re a foreign-born programmer considering working in the U.S. you’ll need certified translations of your important documents. Not to worry. Read an example here:
Get A Certified Translation From Spanish To English For USCIS

German Translation? Which German?

Published on Apr 30, 2019

Summary: Should the German translation of your content be localized or globalized? With three forms of standard German, you will still need to know your audience.

German is the official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg and a co-official language in the Opole Voivodeship in Poland.

German is spoken by 95 million native speakers around the world (Wikipedia)

Countries by percentage of German speakers:

0-1% German-Speaking

1-5% German-Speaking

50%+ German-Speaking

(Source: Wikipedia)

Standard Forms of German (Source: Wikipedia)

German Standard German - as the name would imply, this is the dialect spoken and written in Germany. This is the variety of German that is most frequently taught in schools internationally. There are regional differences to this variety of German language.

Swiss Standard German is also called Swiss High German. This version is one of four official languages in Switzerland and is mostly used as a written, not speak the language. What is spoken in Switzerland is Swiss German. Swiss German is also referred to as Alemannic German.

Are you confused enough yet? A German translation could be any one of the previously mentioned dialects. How then does one do a German translation of a video or audio recording? Amateurs should not try this at home. It can only end in tears for your company’s marketing department. But wait! There’s one more type of standard German to be accountable for.

Austrian Standard German, spoken in Austria, is considered the most prestigious form and is used in formal settings and in the media. For casual situations, Austrians will use Bavarian and Alemannic dialects.

For a taste of the variety of dialects in Germany alone you’ll enjoy this:

Me speaking in 12 GERMAN DIALECTS!

Wrestling with this topic might seem daunting but it’s worth remembering that Germany alone is a prized market to be in. Read our blog on this topic. The Case For German Translation - you’ll see that the reward could be well worth the effort.

Let’s focus more on localizing and how a business should approach this task through the lens of Spanish translations. The principles are exactly the same regardless of the specific language.

Read: Spanish Translation For Your Website: Which Spanish?

Now that I’ve scared you sufficiently with many of the larger linguistic landmines you should be aware of, it’s time to provide a guide for how to think about a German translation of your content.

To globalize or to localize?

That is the question!
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous mistranslations

I think you get where we’re going with this. For your business, your choice of a German translation can have significant consequences.

What does it mean to globalize a German translation? The quick answer is Standard German but if you go to this Wikipedia link you’ll see it lists German Standard German, Austrian Standard German, and Swiss Standard German. So once again, it is better to do careful diligence and/or hire an expert to understand your target audience and what the best match will be for globalizing

If you have a clearly defined audience that speaks the same dialect then the choice is easy (easy is a relative term here). Localize for that audience’s variety of German. Again, it’s best to hire an expert company. We know that MotaWord has both the skilled translators and the experience needed to localize your content. That guarantees you’ll be completely satisfied with the result. And our platform generates a constantly updating glossary so that each successive localization takes advantage of our prior experience.

Let us know if you have further questions and we’ll gladly address them. After all, you can reach us 24/7 just by visiting www.motaword.com.

German Startups - Our Best German Translation Clients

Published on Apr 29, 2019

As a companion piece to my earlier look at the German startup landscape, German Translation and Startup Ecosystem, I connected with Duc Tam Dam of the German Accelerator here in New York City. He was kind enough to field my questions on German startups. (needless to say, no German translation was required for this.)

Thanks, Duc. Let’s get to it!

Marcos: Is the federal government actively supportive of German startups?
Duc: Yes it is, there are several programs as well as institutions to help and fund the startups.
Here are a few examples of them:

Berliner Startup Stipendium (scholarship for founders)
Exist (more advanced scholarship)
KMU-innovative (Initiated by the federal government for education for technological research)
German Accelerator (supporting German startups to expand globally)

Marcos: Let me jump in here to note that the companies in your accelerator all have great websites in English. They know the value of a good English translation of their German content. (As I am sure they value a good German translation of services they receive from international companies). For your next batch of German startups, please pass along our info, such as this post, “The Best Translation Companies in New York City”

Marcos: Are individual cities supportive?
Duc: Yes, nearly every big city supports founders and startups.

Marcos: If a given city is supportive, what programs or funding are provided to startups?

Duc: They provide help with investments, consulting, knowledge or seminars.
Go here to find examples of different services provided in Berlin.

Marcos: How does the startup environment in Germany compare with that in the US?

Duc: In general, there is less funding here in Germany compared to the US. Also in order to get funding the traction and the validation of the idea is crucial since investors are less risk-taking. Whereas in the US investors are also willing to invest in the vision of the startup.

Marcos: My understanding is that these are the main cities where there is startup activity: Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, and Karlsruhe. Which of these cities has the most activity.

Duc: The most active city in the German startup system in Berlin followed by Munich and Hamburg.

Watch this video for a quick overview of Germany’s startup hubs: Meet the Startups in Germany: The Digital Hub Initiative

Marcos: Anything else noteworthy to know about German startups?

Duc: Berlin is among the top ten places in the world to found a startup when it comes to the ecosystem and has the second biggest ecosystem in Europe behind London.

In case you want to know more about the German startups' scene, I highly recommend to have a look at the EY startup barometer (in German). It is an annual report of the startup scene with all recent trends and transfers in detail. (If you want that or any other document translated from German you now know to call on MotaWord)

For a better understanding of what’s going on with all German businesses read this article on our blog: The Case for German Translation

French Translation? Which French?

Published on Apr 29, 2019

Summary: How must your company think about localizing your content in French? A French translation for Quebec differs from a French translation in Switzerland or France.

Where is French spoken?

Source: Wikipedia

What are the challenges your company will face when trying to reach French-speaking audiences worldwide? What’s at stake here? It could go a couple of ways. You can effectively engage and sell to your new market or instead you could confuse and alienate this new market with an inappropriate French translation. You need to understand if there is a ‘Standard French’ that will be universally understood or if the market you are trying to reach requires a specific dialect. Put another way, you need to know how to navigate the linguistic and cultural waters and avoid the hidden reefs and shoals that can wreck your ship.

A brief humorous interlude on linguistic ambiguity from the classic, The Princess Bride.

To craft an effective French translation of your content you need to wrap your head around the concept of a ‘Standard French’ versus a French translation that has been localized for a specific country or region. For perspective on a standard or global French start with “Standard French” on Wikipedia.

We make a case for targeting a specific language market here: Speak to Global Customers in Their Own Language. Now would be a good time to check that article out to see why we press this issue.

The French Language: By the Numbers

Source: diplomatie.gouv

300 million people worldwide speak French
5th most spoken language in the world after, Mandarin Chinese, English, Spanish, and Arabic
29 countries have French as the official language
2nd most used language, after English, in diplomacy
3rd most used language in business

How many dialects of French are there in the world? There are 29, including Belgian, Quebec, Swiss, Cambodian, Vietnamese and Haitian French to name a few.

Select E-commerce Markets in French Speaking Countries

Source: statistica.com

France

Annual Revenue $50 billion (2019 est.)
The e-commerce penetration rate of 77.4% (2019 est.)

Quebec

Annual Revenue $9.1 billion (2018)
E-commerce penetration rate 58% (2018)

While not specifically a French translation recommendation, generally there are a few things that will help you succeed when entering into a new market.

Do your research and consult with experts to learn the buying habits of the new target market.
Make the new website appear to be native to that country. Did you know that 62% of Canadian e-commerce buyers prefer to buy from a ‘.ca’ address? Of course, that makes sense but as you plan your go to market strategy you might not remember it.

To continue with the Canadian example here’s a quick read on 3 website improvements that will help you sell to Canadians

Finally, you can read about Irena, one of MotaWord’s many professional translators doing French translation work. She does French translations into English and German with particular care. German Translator in Switzerland: A Translator Shares Their Life

And… for a free quote on your French translation or any of your translation needs, 24/7, click this link.

French Translation and “The Immortals”

Published on Apr 29, 2019

Can the Académie française stop the rise of Anglicisms in French?

Summary: For French translations, how much influence should the Académie Française have in how foreign words are rendered in French?

A few weeks ago, March 3, 2019, there was an article in the New York Times, The guardians of the French Language Are Deadlocked, Just Like Their Country. It piqued my interest since discussions of language usage are so often proxies for larger societal issues such as class and race. We won’t go down that road but it does make things… interesting, to say the least.

Rules, Rules, Rules: Descriptive vs. prescriptive
Does anyone else remember being taught in school that “like” should not be used as a comparative? We were told the correct word to use is “as”. That was prescriptive and few people were willing to abide by that rule. The cigarette brand, Winston, famously played on this rule with their long-running ad, 'Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should'. By contrast, the descriptive view is that if a majority of people use a word or phrase and it conveys meaning then it becomes an acceptable part of the language.

The example that may irritate purists:
Less (sic) people avoid using ‘like’ than in bygone years.
Would anyone like to go to the mat and wrestle me over using “fewer’ instead of ‘less’?
Read the fewer/less rules and pick a side.

For a more extended explanation of prescriptive versus descriptive grammar read, Linguistic prescription. In most countries, these kinds of discussions take place in academia, bookstores, and college coffee shops. But France has a tradition of being particular about how the French language is used. English incorporates vocabulary and grammar from multiple sources.

Speaking of prescriptive, you’ll enjoy watching this classic scene from the movie, My Fair Lady, that deals with ‘proper’ English language usage.

History of the Académie française
In 1635 Cardinal Richelieu, a cleric and chief minister to King Louis XIII, founded the Académie française to protect and preserve the French language. The academy existed for 60 years before they published their first dictionary, the Dictionnaire de l’Académie française. Across three centuries and the publication of nine editions the academy is considered to be the definitive word on what is correct and pure French. They are famous for rejecting new terms from other languages, especially Anglicisms (English derived words). The Academy prefers a French translation over one originated in another language.

Examples of these French translations are:

buzz – ramdam
tuning – bolidage
chat – éblabla

So who are these, ‘so-called’ immortals? They are the forty members of the academy who collectively make these judgments as to what is acceptable in the French language. They are typically esteemed members of academia, respected authors, retired government officials among other society notables. Each applies to be a member and if elected serves for life. It doesn’t mean they live forever so perhaps the name is a misnomer.

How do French translators approach a French translation with regard to a descriptive or prescriptive orientation for proper usage? This often depends on who is the intended audience of a text. And that then determines whether to localize the French translation for a particular geographic region or attempt a more universally understood, globalized version of your French translation.

We’ve written about the question of whether to localize or globalize and on different dialects in a given language. Here are two that are immediately relevant:

French Translation? Which French?

Spanish Translation For Your Website: Which Spanish?

Any questions translations? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We specialize in making you comfortable with our translation services.

Japanese Translation, Why?

Published on Apr 29, 2019

Summary: This snapshot of the Japanese economy gives insights into the value of a Japanese translation and localizing your website and marketing content for this market.

Japan is a powerhouse economy and must be a part of your plan when you take your company global. Companies globalizing, on average, will have their marketing in thirty-two languages. You can be sure that a Japanese translation is foremost among those. But knowing the market, culture, and business practices are all part of entering any market, not in one’s home country. So a Japanese translation of your content must be more than an exercise in word matching. Let’s learn more about Japan.

Population
(Source: CIA Factbook)
126 million

Economic Overview
(Source: CIA Factbook)
The 4th largest economy in the world
GDP Per Capita PPP: $42,900 (2017 est.)

Japan’s Main Industries
(Source: worldatlas.com)

Agriculture
Farming in Japan is highly regulated with stringent protections for small farmers. The small amount of arable land has forced efficiencies and yields the highest level of crop output per unit in the world. While rice imports are subject to tariffs of up to 777%, Japan imports large quantities of both soybeans and wheat. A trend to watch? How agricultural technology will be affected by the aging farm owners.

Manufacturing
Manufacturing in Japan is a well-known success story and makes up 24% of its GDP. They are a world leader in electronics, semiconductors, fiber optics, and office electronics. Other strong industries include biochemistry and food fermentation. Perhaps Japan’s best-known industry is the automotive industry which produces tires, parts, and components (e.g. engines) for vehicles.

Fishing
Japan’s fishing industry is the 4th largest in the world. This is a mix of small boats, (⅓) medium-sized boats, (½) with the balance going to large vessels. Also included in this industry are fish farms and hatcheries that makeup 30% of Japan’s fishing industry.

Tourism
In 2012 there were 8.3 million visitors to Japan, making it the most visited country in the Asia / Pacific region. By 2013 the number of visitors had grown to 11.25 million. With the 2020 Olympics coming to Japan the government predicts there will be 20 million visitors per year by then. Popular destinations are the cities of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto (for the beautiful temples there) and Hokkaido.

Other
Other industries make up a majority of the economic output of Japan. Among these are mining, oil exploration, and the service industry. Services include real estate, insurance, banking, retail, telecom, and transport.

Internet and Mobile Phone Penetration
Internet Penetration 91% (2018)
Number Internet Users 117 million
Number of mobile internet users 66.6 million
*Largest share of internet users - 55 yrs. old and male*

If you plan to enter the Japanese market then knowing the above demographic information is essential to how you position your product or service. And localizing your content, not just translating it, is something you should keep in mind when you do your Japanese translation. Read our blog on this topic: The Case for Localization

E-commerce
Source: statistica.com

Internet Penetration in Japan
(Source: statistica.com)

At present, there are an estimated 103 million online shoppers in Japan. By 2023 that number is predicted to grow to 108 million. Per person, e-commerce shoppers are estimated to spend $836 (USD) annually with the 2023 projection being $961 (USD). As a total online spend that means going from $86 billion (USD) to $104 billion (USD).

What should you do with all this information? Whether it’s $86 billion or $104 billion, you need a Japanese translation of your content for your internationalization efforts.

Market Outlook
A big driver of Japan’s economy will continue to be those businesses connected to caring for Japan’s aging population. Healthcare, AI (Artificial Intelligence), Robotics, and Big Data will all come into play. Will your company be part of this trend?

Learn more: Why Japan’s Aging Population Is An Investment Opportunity

Watch this video on Japan: Economic Health Check, from the International Monetary Fund

For more on how Japan’s aging population will affect its economy read: Why Japan’s Aging Population Is An Investment Opportunity

Read our blog, Why Should You Run Your Website Localization Project On MotaWord

And… for a free quote on your Japanese translation or any of your translation needs, 24/7, click this link.

Korean Translation Is Hard. Ask Koreans.

Published on Apr 26, 2019

Korean Translation is hard?

The English playwright, George Bernard Shaw is credited with saying, “ England and America are two countries separated by the same language.” North and South Korea have a similar linguistic divide.

We talked about the importance of Korean translation in our article, aptly titled “Korean Translation, Why?” Giving that a quick read would be a good idea now if you have not already done so. This article is about a bit more than that.

Defectors from North Korea, having surmounted one barrier, face another when trying to navigate a disorienting form of the Korean language. There are terms in the language in South Korean relating to technology, laws, and culture that North Koreans have never encountered and might as well be Greek. (Yes, MotaWord can do Greek translations. More on that later...)

Much like the variants in species that are found on the Galapagos Islands off of Ecuador, the Korean language spoken in North and South Korea has diverged after seventy years of separation following World War II.

The article, Why Are North and South Korea Divided? gives a thorough and ultimately sad account of the Soviet Union and the US of A’s agreement to divide Korea. You probably won’t be surprised to learn that the language from North Korea has integrated some Russian terms while the language from South Korea has adopted American terms.

How does South Korea try to integrate North Koreans into society?

3 months required training for defectors
Seoul's Ministry of Unification routinely publishes lists of common words that confuse defectors - a Korean translation of new terms if you will...
Private groups teach English to help with those words that have seeped into South Korea
There’s even an app, UniVoca that translates South Korean terms into those that can be understood by North Koreans, lets you build a vocabulary list and translate terms by scanning them with the phone’s camera

And there’s a joint initiative underway between the two countries to create a comprehensive Korean dictionary Gyeoremal Keunsajeon, that lists all the words common to both North and South as well as the terms that are different in each country. Funny as it sounds, that will make a South Korean translation to North Korean translation more possible.

For those who enjoy fun videos rather than reading this is a good one explaining the difference between the 2 Korean dialects:

According to the Foreign Service Institute, Korean is one of the five most difficult languages for English speakers to learn. Read about their rankings of language difficulty. And given how different Korean is from English, Korean translations must be done by competent translators. The complexity of the syntax, nuance involved and need to understand context all make translating between English and Korean more challenging than between a European language and English.

For businesses looking to have a presence in the South Korean market here are a few facts to note:

The economy is the 4th largest in Asia and 11th in the world
They have a high standard of living
The unemployment rate has averaged 3% over the past 10 years (the US unemployment rate is nearly double that)
Their education systems are ranked #1 on many global lists of educational systems by country

This would make a strong argument for having your business enter this market. And once you decide that entering this market is the best course of action, the next step is to have a Korean translation of your content. Let MotaWord handle this important job and you can be sure to enter this market in a way that best represents your company. After all, we do this for many of the world’s top brands (see our Client Showcase)

These previous blog posts can also aid you in selecting MotaWord as your trusted partner for your English to Korean translations:

Spanish Language Translations Not Right on the Left

Published on Apr 11, 2019

Summary: The Spanish language translations of the leading Democratic candidates for President range from sloppy to poor to missing. They need to do better.

Sometimes the universe drops a gift in your lap. The messengers bearing this gift to MotaWord were some of the leading Democratic candidates for President. What is that gift? They proved that quality language translations are best done by professionals. That would be us and our over 16,000 translators at MotaWord.

In a recent article in Politico, the candidates were faulted for having Spanish language translations of their campaign websites that were sloppy, error-riddled, awful or non-existent. Proving once more that a credible Spanish language translation of a website must be done by language experts - either a qualified person in-house or by an experienced professional.

Campaign 2020 Special Offer
MotaWord is eager to help your presidential campaign. Contact us and we’ll support you.

On the topic of the Spanish language, translations read our prior blog: Spanish Language Translation For Your Website: Which Spanish?

Politico.com reviewed the Spanish language translations of each candidate’s website and rated them on the quality of the translation. In many cases, the results did not instill confidence in their competence or their commitment to engaging with Spanish speaking voters. They ranged from bad to merely sloppy or in some cases, a candidate had no Spanish translation of their website. (Really? In 2019?)

So what happened?
That depends on whose site you were looking at. The primary suspect, a “web tool of interest” is Google Translate. For those who are monolingual, this has been a great way to get the gist of an article with a Spanish translation. We can see that much is wrong but it gives us enough to know the general meaning. Google Translate is not yet remotely good enough to produce a finished product, especially if your goal is to win the hearts and minds of a crucial voting bloc.

The Gory Details. Who did what?
This won’t be a comprehensive survey. Politico.com did a terrific job and we link to that below. But here are some of the faux pas (or in Spanish, ‘metida de pata’) that were found.

Grade: A-
Cory Booker, Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris, and Jay Inslee each received this grade and were faulted on minor typos on their websites. Jay Inslee was given credit for good use of technical language relating to climate change.
Grade: B+
The websites of Julián Castro and Kirsten Gilibrand needed more attention to detail, such as input forms, better headlines and translating videos. (with either captioning or voice-overs) Like myself, Julián Castro’s mother is Chicana but he does not speak Spanish fluently. And like mine, many families, when faced with discrimination, made their children speak English only, to avoid the potential stigma. (I’ve been playing catchup ever since)
Grade: C
Elizabeth Warren’s site was graded C+ and Amy Klobuchar was graded C. They each contained errors and Klobuchar’s content matched the output of Google Translate and were thus error-filled.
I (Incomplete) or F
These candidates, who we won’t shame any more than they have already been shamed, either had their landing page in a Spanish Language translation (poorly done) or had no Spanish Language website at all. Dios mío! Come on people.

But let’s give props where props are due. Listen to Cory Booker smoothly speak in Spanish to a Spanish speaking audience.

Candidates, please do yourself a favor and let us do the work for you. Concentrate on telling the American public what you will do to address the many problems our country is facing and why we should vote for you. This is a form of ‘sales pitch’. We wrote about this as well:

Speak To Global Customers In Their Own Language

MotaWord is standing by to help. Learn more.

And once again, thanks to Politico.com for this gift of an article:
Latino outreach or Google Translate? 2020 Dems bungle Spanish websites

The Case for German Translation

Published on Apr 3, 2019

Summary: Learn about the German economy to understand how a German translation of your website and marketing materials provides the keys to this lucrative market.

Why is the German economy and specifically e-commerce in Germany, important? Let’s consider some of the main drivers of this thriving economy. Later, we’ll look at how MotaWord can help you win your company’s share through a German translation of your content.

With a population of over eighty million people, Germany has the largest economy in Europe and the fifth largest economy in the world. The average person in Germany has a per capita PPP income of $50,800. For comparison purposes, the per capita income (2018) in the US was $65,000 (Report for Selected Countries and Subjects: United States IMF 2018)

Main industries (World Atlas)
Germany’s economic success can broadly be attributed to how they moved their industries from producing commodities to producing higher value products. Examples are advanced medical devices, better-engineered automobiles, along with innovative and sustainable clean energy products. This approach of continually adding higher value has been applied to:

Machinery, Automotive, and Aviation
Chemical and Medical
Consumer and Services
Energy and Environmental Technology
Electronics and Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

For a fascinating look at current and future innovations in Germany’s automotive industry watch:

Another important part of Germany’s economic success story lies in Mittelstand companies. These are small and medium-sized enterprises that make up 99% of all German companies. They are multi-generational family owned companies with lean organizational structures, agile business practices, and long-term thinking. Mittelstands employ 80% of the country’s workers and export a significant number of the country’s products.

Finally, to put all this positive news into perspective - and temper it a bit - read this informed piece from a series on National Public Radio.

How Germany Wins At Manufacturing — For Now

Internet and Mobile Phone Penetration (deutschland.de)
Germany is a digitally connected country with internet usage at 90% of the population over 14 years of age. That’s 62.4 million internet users. And at 57.2 million mobile internet users, nearly the same number are accessing the internet via their phones. What about their online buying habits? Knowing this is crucial to understanding the necessity of a German translation of your online content. Let’s look at that.

E-commerce

Source: eshopworld

There are an estimated 52 million online shoppers in Germany and that number is expected to grow to 54 million by 2022. In 2017, online shoppers spent $63.45 billion USD and by 2021 the annual spend is predicted to be 85.79 billion USD.

But the landscape for online spend is competitive with 66% of online purchases being done on either Amazon or eBay. (E-commerce news.EU) For US companies to benefit from this robust but competitive market they need to globalize their web content by offering a German translation for those consumers. (eshopworld.com)

What do German online shoppers purchase?
In the chart below, from Aug. 2018, you can see that clothing is the most popular category of online purchase. At 64% it is nearly twice as popular as each of Entertainment (36%), Small Electronics (33%), and Beauty (32%).

Source: Mintel

Caveat emptor and caveat vendor (Buyer and Seller Beware)
Know your customer and help them know you. When researching this blog post I found an interesting fact. Germany has a high return rate (goods returned back to a company after purchase). According to export.gov, shoppers return as much as 50% of products purchased online. That’s a significant risk for an online retailer, especially if margins are thin. How do you mitigate this risk? Have clear marketing materials and most importantly speak to your audience in their native language. A German translation of your content is required. Think of it as ‘table stakes’ for playing in this market.

Market Outlook (European Commission)
The Germany economy had strong growth from 2014 to 2017 but since then has slowed. However, for businesses looking to sell into Germany, there’s still hope for optimism. Individual spending will likely continue to see moderate increases given the strong labor market and government efforts to boost household incomes.

What does this mean for global businesses? Done smartly, it means you should be looking to the German market for expanded sales. But - to sound the same note - your messaging must be visible in a German translation or you won’t succeed.

As part of your globalization plans, remember that the Spanish language market is the third largest language market after English and Chinese.

Read: Spanish Language for your website: Which Spanish?

And when you are ready to move forward with the German translation of your content get in touch with us. But first, read - The MotaWord Translation Process

MotaWord’s Security and Confidentiality Promise

Published on Apr 1, 2019

Security and confidentiality are built into MotaWord’s DNA. We offer more features to ensure your security and confidentiality than most other translation services. At MotaWord, we use an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate, closed servers, and our beloved vetted translator base who sign non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements before they start their first project.

As working professionals, it becomes increasingly dangerous to trust machine translation with sensitive material that you use for your business. You don’t want to copy and paste sensitive content into Google Translate, where any hacker can dig a little and gain all the secrets you didn’t want to share while trying to grow your company globally. This is counter-productive. Instead, it is imperative to find a translation service that is committed to your confidentiality and security, and for this, is your ultimate translation services provider.

When it comes to security and confidentiality, MotaWord goes above and beyond the norms of the translation industry. With our unique workflow, we create default to creating safeguards that adjust to our customer’s needs by treating each word as sacred. We never email your document to a crowd, we always encrypt, and we treat every client document as we would an ATM pin. Every linguist working under the MotaWord name is consistently and meticulously monitored and recorded.

The translation services industry norm has vulnerability built into its core. Every day, Fortune 500 companies need their private documents translated in a secure and confidential manner. MotaWord does everything within its power to make sure that your document is reviewed only by the necessary individuals to deliver your high-quality translation 20 times faster than the competition.

When you receive a quote from one of our competitors, for example, your document is first emailed to a crowd of potential translators, and the service will create your quote based on the rates those translators require. This makes your document not only vulnerable en route via email, it allows people who may not even work on your document to receive it, and do what they wish with your information. MotaWord is different. Thanks to our evolving infrastructure, talented internal team and unique workflow, we implement translator vetting and high barrier workflows to ensure the safety of your content.

Translator Vetting
MotaWord offers its translators and expert linguists background checks, confidentiality and NDA agreements, and security-specific orientation training at the outset, then ongoing as their career with MotaWord progresses.

While most translation service companies stop there, we believe this is not enough. Our linguists are then actively monitored on each project. Upon customer request, assigned translators will be asked to re-sign confidentiality statements before joining a project. Every entry on our platform is recorded and reviewed. In the event that a violation occurs, we immediately suspend the offender from the project, and if there is a repeat in this behavior, they are removed from MotaWord permanently.

High Barrier Workflow

We never email customer data. When our translators receive project invitations, they only receive the word count and the price rate. It is only when they accept to work on the project that they enter into our secure dashboard, which provides only the text of your document to be translated, through our secure translator dashboard.

We do not use DropBox, FTP downloads, or any other channels - everything is done through our protected platform.

Our translation platform works by segmenting your document into hundreds or thousands of text “strings”, depending on the length of the document. These strings are then only editable to the single translator who chooses to translate that single string. While each individual string can technically be translated by a different linguist, our single proofreader model ensures the cohesion of the entire document.

By removing the original format of your document during the MotaWord translation process, we limit the visibility of your document within a secure environment. Your document is then re-formatted into the original form by our internal team and delivered to you.

Let’s say a translator accepts your project and takes a string to translate, but for whatever reason takes longer than 5 minutes to begin. This translator will be promptly and quickly kicked-off the string, and will not be able to re-assign themselves to that string. A translator cannot view more than 20 string in a document at one time, which limits the possibility of screen capture.

Once your project is delivered, all the data involved with your project is completely removed from any active workspace within our platform. Archives are only accessible to the MotaWord internal team.

As a client, your translation memory (TM) is your property, not the property of MotaWord. TM for a project is only accessible to translators when your project is active.

All companies have content secrets varying in value; all of them can be protected with MotaWord. Do not unknowingly put your company at risk - invest in your confidentiality and order your translation with MotaWord.

For more information, please read our privacy policy.

About MotaWord

MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock, and over 15 thousand professional translators, MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

Citations: WIPO

Portuguese Translation in Poetry with Fernando Pessoa

Published on Apr 1, 2019

Fernando Pessoa
13 June 1888 – 30 November 1935

“I’m beginning to know myself. I don’t exist. I’m the gap between what I’d like to be and what others have made of me. . . That’s me. Period.”
-Fernando Pessoa

An increasingly eccentric Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher, and philosopher is found in Fernando Pessoa. Described as one of the most influential literary artists of the 20th century, Pessoa is one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language. Focused on Portuguese translation, this Famous Translators article is about Pessoa.

Fernando Pessoa is regarded as the center of Portuguese modernism, writing much more than poems. He had a legendary trunk that he obsessively filled with loose pages of writings on philosophy, sociology, history, literary criticism, short stories, plays, the treatise on astrology and several autobiographical reflections.
Pessoa often wrote and published under different names. While this publishing strategy is most widely known as writing under a pseudonym, Pessoa insisted on coining his own term for the practice - he preferred to call them heteronyms. This is just one example of the many ways Pessoa chose to distinguish himself as an eccentric. These heteronyms were not just names - he created individuals with their own history, biography, personal characteristics, and literary style.
Portuguese translation was also an occupation for Pessoa. In addition to translating from Portuguese, he also worked in translation with English and French.
Among the titles he is responsible for translating into Portuguese is The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the short stories "The Theory and the Hound", "The Roads We Take" and "Georgia's Ruling" by O. Henry, the poetry "Godiva" by Alfred Tennyson, "Lucy" by William Wordsworth, "Barbara Frietchie" by John Greenleaf Whittier, "Catarina to Camoens" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and "The Raven", "Annabel Lee" and "Ulalume" by Edgar Allan Poe.
After his death, a large trunk was found amongst his possessions. This trunk contained twenty-five thousand manuscript pages, written by Pessoa himself. A testament to his graphomaniacal productivity, any and every kind of paper was found in the trunk, covered in Pessoa’s handwriting. Loose sheets, notebooks, stationery, on the backs of letters, envelopes; it seems any scrap of paper within his reach was a contender to house one of Pessoa’s ideas.
Fernando Pessoa’s trunk now rests in Portugal’s National Library, containing the masterpieces that acclaim him as the greatest Portuguese Poet of his century.

Pessoa’s graphomaniacal nature proved successful both during and after his lifetime. Not much is known about his personal life, but one can’t help but assume that someone with such a fervor for writing any time, anywhere, on anything - and hoarding it all in a trunk no less - he must not have had much time for any other voices other than his professional passions and their Portuguese translations.

Fernando Pessoa in numbers:

Number of heteronyms Fernando Pessoa created and wrote under. These figures were known to hold unpopular or extremist views.

Pessoa’s age when his father died. Two years later, his mother remarried a Portugues Consul and they moved to Durban, South Africa, where Pessoa would spend his formative years.

Pessoa’s age when he became completely fluent in English. This would be the year he would win the Queen Victoria prize for an English essay he wrote, chosen out of 890 entrants.

For The Guardian’s review of Fernando Pessoa’s most famous work, The Book of Disquiet, click here.
For interviews with Margaret Jull Costa, one of the more recent translators of The Book of Disquiet, click here and here.
For more figures in Portuguese translation, click here.

About MotaWord
MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock, and over 15 thousand professional translators, MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

About This Article
Famous Translators is a MotaWord segment showcasing notable professional translated works and famous linguists from history to the present. We will be researching, compiling and sharing stories that matter to every translator on our blog.

You, too can be published right here on the MotaWord blog site. To help us make this segment more tailored to our community, contribute any comments, ideas for articles, or share your story. Please contact kali@motaword.com.

Check out our previous "Famous Translators" articles:

Citations: PoetryInTranslation, NewYorker, OxfordHandbooks, SCReview, TheBritishLibrary

The Self-Translated Author: Samuel Beckett

Published on Apr 1, 2019

Samuel Beckett
13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”
- Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beckett is regarded famously as the self-translated author of the 21st century. He is famous for a number of popular literary works, including Waiting for Godot and Watt. If he was unable to translate his work himself, he was known to supervise the translation of his work as a consultant. Ever the friend of the translation community, Samuel Beckett allowed his love for translation to play a pivotal role in his training as a writer, author, critic, and playwright. A Nobel Prize winner for literature, he wrote in both French and English.

Beckett began translating in 1930 but officially began publishing duplicate bilingual versions of each text in 1955. Most of his work was written in French first, then translated into English by his own hand.
With a literary career starting in the late 1920s, Samuel Beckett did not reach international acclaim until the publishing of Waiting for Godot in 1952. Written originally in French, of course, Beckett quickly translated this work into English to increase its already growing popularity - a pattern that he would continue until his death.
Waiting for Godot was first performed in Paris in 1953. 1955 would mark the opening of the English version in London. The English rendition was reviewed to be puzzling to some, under Peter Hall’s direction - a vision that emphasized silence and repetition. Some believe the play was unremarkable, some gushed that the play had changed the rules of theater entirely.
Beckett was no stranger to controversy. At the core of his work was a courageous pessimism, dissecting humanity’s relationship with God. In Beckett’s work, the desperate could find new life in despair. As he wrote in his novel, The Unnamable, 'You must go on, I can't go on, I'll go on.''
Almost in spite of the seemingly bleak nature of his writing, Beckett himself was a man of great humor and compassion. The installation of wit amongst the stagnation of his subject matters allows the reader to find hope among fragile banality. Many scholars and critics searched for metaphorical analysis within his work, but he consistently refused to explain any ulterior meaning that may be found in his work.

Samuel Beckett, at the height of his career, was closely aligned to existentialism by literary critics. His innovative style also grouped his work into the modernist avant-garde movement and although his bilingual talents were largely ignored by the general populace in comparison to his literary achievements, fans of Beckett were much wiser. Beckett Translating/ Translating Beckett, edited by Allan Warren Friedman in 1987 was published, exposing Samuel Beckett as the self-translating linguistic genius that he is. The ability to self-translate not only allowed Beckett to utilize a whole new medium of creativity for the same work but allowed him a level of autonomy over his art that few other authors can enjoy.

Samuel Beckett in numbers:

1969

The year Beckett’s accomplishments in drama and fiction landed him the Nobel Prize for Literature.

83	The birthday year that marked his last known printed work, “Stirrings Still”. The piece was published as a limited edition. In this work a character who resembles Beckett sits in a cell-like room seeing his double appear then disappear.

4	Number of full-length stage plays Beckett wrote: En attendant Godot (Waiting for Godot), Fin de partie (Endgame), Krapp's Last Tape, and Happy Days.

For more on Samuel Beckett, click here.

About MotaWord
MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock, and over 15 thousand professional translators, MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

About This Article
Famous Translators is a MotaWord segment showcasing notable professional translated works and famous linguists from history to the present. We will be researching, compiling and sharing stories that matter to every translator on our blog.

You, too can be published right here on the MotaWord blog site. To help us make this segment more tailored to our community, contribute any comments, ideas for articles, or share your story. Please contact info@motaword.com.

Check out our previous "Famous Translators" articles:

7 Translation, Localization, and Interpretation Podcasts Worth Checking Out

Published on Apr 1, 2019

Did you already give a try to that podcast app on your smartphone? It’s time. Podcasts are having a cultural moment, with literally thousands and thousands of podcasts available and new ones launching every day all over the world. So if you’re looking for translation-peer advice, insight, and some stories, we have the definitive list of best translation podcasts you can listen to from the comfort of your smartphone.

Speaking of Translation is an occasional podcast about the language industry. The hosts are Eve Lindemuth Bodeux and Corinne McKay. Check out their latest episode — International payment methods for translators.

The World in Words is a podcast about languages and the people who speak them. What happens to the brain on bilingualism? Does it matter that so many languages are dying out? Why are Chinese tech words so inventive? Why does Icelandic have so many cool swearwords? The hosts are Patrick Cox and Nina Porzucki. Check out their latest episode — The sci-fi of another language and follow them on Twitter: @lingopod.

Globally Speaking is a podcast for and from language professionals about building awareness of how important translation and localization services are in helping global brands succeed in foreign markets — no matter where their business takes them. The hosts are Renato Beninatto and Michael W. Stevens. Check out their latest episode #76 — How Following the Herd Impacts Localization and follow them on Twitter: @GloballySpeak.

Translators On Air (formerly known as Blabbing Translators) is a weekly live talk show for translators and interpreters where viewers are invited to join the discussion on a variety of topics from video game localization to working with self-published authors. The hosts are Dmitry Kornykhov and Elena Tereshchenkova. Check out their latest episode — How far can your voice take you.

A Way with Words is a weekly public radio show and podcast about language examined through history, culture, and family: slang, old sayings, new words, grammar, word origins, regional dialects, family expressions, speaking and writing well, word quizzes, language news and controversies. The hosts are Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett. Check out their latest episode #1521 — Spill the Tea and follow them on Twitter: @wayword.

Troublesome Terps is a roundtable-style podcast covering topics from interpreting space and the wider world of languages to help you explore the hidden linguistics gems around the world as they interview real people with real experiences. The hosts are Jonathan Downie, Alexander Gansmeier, are Alexander Drechsel. Check out their latest episode # 34 — The Crystal Ball of Interpreting and follow them on Twitter: @troubleterps.

In Other Words: Language Neutral is a weekly podcast for interpreters, translators, and linguists, where they discuss everything from languages, culture, diversity, current events and interpreter education with some high-profile guests from the industry. The host is Berthine Crevecoeur West. Check out their latest episode — New Era Introduction.

Do you listen to any other language-related podcasts? Let us know on social media. Don’t forget to mention @MotaWord, and we'll be sure to check them out.

About MotaWord

MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock and over 15 thousand professional translators MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

Translate a Business Card Into Korean

Published on Mar 25, 2019

Summary: Essential information for doing business in South Korea, including why you should translate your business card into Korean and proper Korean business etiquette.

If you hope to be successful doing business in South Korea you’ll need to understand and abide by the cultural norms in that country. There are right and wrong ways to interact with people. You’ll maximize your chances of having a successful trip if you do your homework ahead of time.

When first meeting someone, how do you behave? What role does social status play in an interaction? The answer to these questions can make or break a meeting. Let’s look at what you need to know before we take a closer look at business cards.

Age and Status
Social interactions in Korea are determined by status. Understanding where someone is in the hierarchy is important. Status is defined by your role in an organization, what organization you work for, the university attended and your marital status. (Hey! We didn’t make these rules.)

Name
Family names, usually one syllable, are listed first and given names, usually, two syllables, are listed second. Example: Kim (family or surname), Jong-un (given name)

As you’ll see below, there are many areas that require westerners to set aside their existing ways of doing business and operate under a different set of rules. Other topics on you need to well versed in are:

Gift Giving
Greetings and Bowing
Relationship Building
How to Dress
Gender Equality (or not)
Negotiation Style
Geopolitical Topics
Preserving Face
The Role of Dining

You can read about this in greater detail in Conducting Business In Korea

Korean Language Business Cards
And now to the topic that we are most concerned with today: the role that business cards play in Korean business culture. When traveling in Korea you must have a bilingual business card - English on one side and Korean on the other. How do you use them? When meeting someone:

Remove your card from the case
With the Korean language side up, and oriented to be easily read
Pass the card with two hands
- If your status is junior you will pass the card under the other card
- If you status is senior you will pass the card over the other card
- If your status is equal you will pass your card at the same height as the other card
Once you have their card in your two hands you look at it thoughtfully to show respect
If you are sitting down together place it on the table where you’ll be sitting
If you aren’t going to sit together then place it in your card case. This shows respect.

Some Don’ts

Do not stuff it into a pocket in your pants or jacket.
Do not write on a Korean business card. You don’t (or at least you shouldn’t) write on someone’s fact

Here’s an excellent explainer video:

MotaWord makes it simple and convenient for you to create your Korean language business card or one in any other language for that matter. Order your business card by:

Typing the information from your card into MotaWord. Typically this will be your

Company Name
First Name
Last Name
Title
Street Address
Telephone Number/s
Email
Company URL
Company Tagline

We also accept documents in a variety of file formats. For a complete list of the file formats MotaWord accepts go here.
Do you have your trip to Korea planned? Get your Korean language business card taken care of today. Click this link to get an instant quote.

And in case you need to be convinced of the value of translating your content into Korean, read this article.

We will return a translation for your Korean language business card to you, often in minutes.

German Translation and Startup Ecosystem

Published on Mar 20, 2019

Summary: A case for the German translation of content and a look at the German startup ecosystems in various German cities. How are they different from US startup hubs? Why is a German translation of your content desirable?

German translation of English content is one of the most requested language pairs on MotaWord. Recently I attended an accelerator demo day for New York City’s German Accelerator. My hope was to see a representative range of German startups. A tall order when you think that accelerators’ cohorts don’t conveniently organize their startups as representatives of a country or industry. So real research into the German startup ecosystem was in order in an effort to understand whether German startups would also need German into English translation of their content (or any other language for that matter). I can safely report the pitches from the German companies I saw had been translated into flawless English.

German Startup Stats at a Glance
6,000 - 7,000 Startups in Germany (Startup Guide)
Nearly 30% of startup employees are non-German

The Three Main Legal Structures of Companies in Germany:

Sole proprietorship (Einzelunternehmen)
Limited Liability Company (GmbH)
Civil law partnership (GbR)

Germany has many programs to support startups, including the IBB, Berlin’s business development bank. Make sure some of that support goes to localizing your content with German translations of your marketing materials!

More on setting up a business in Berlin here: What to know about setting up a company in Berlin

City Profiles (Global Startup Ecosystem 2018 Report, Startup Guide, Valuer.ai)

Berlin leads Germany with FinTech companies including consumer banking and B2B platforms as well as companies working on IoT (Internet of Things). Over the next ten years, this sector is expected to add 40,000 jobs. The German startup ecosystem gets support from corporate and government organizations, including industrial giant Bosch. With three major universities and the support of Bayer and Pfizer, Life Science German startups in Berlin also have a rich environment in which to grow.
Munich, Germany’s 3rd largest city, is also third in funding startups. In 2017 17,000 new businesses were registered in Munich. FinTech, healthcare, and mobility lead the startup sectors in this city. Budding entrepreneurs are supported by the local universities, including The Technical University of Munich (TUM), Munich University of Applied Sciences (MUAS) and the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE).
Hamburg is home to roughly 400 startups, coworking spaces, and programs and has headquarters for Google, Facebook, Hootsuite, and Yelp. The range of Hamburg’s startup industries includes logistics, media life sciences, aviation, the blockchain, fintech, and e-commerce.

Other important German startup cities are Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, and Karlsruhe.

What cultural differences exist between the US and Germany? The video below asserts that Germany is more risk-averse than the US. In particular German venture capital is averse to risk. Video: German versus American startup culture | Made in Germany

Maybe so, but generalizing has its dangers. The startup culture of Silicon Valley and New York City are very different so we have to be careful about the conclusions we draw. This reminds me of a favorite cautionary quote on this topic: “All models are wrong. Some are useful”

You might ask, “How does this help my company looking to enter the German market?” The answer: Remember that different markets have different requirements to succeed. That means, if you are serious about selling in Germany, you’ll need to localize your web content with a German translation for this market. MotaWord has years of experience delivering high-quality localized translations in over 90 languages. Read how we can help your company successfully enter new markets.

Why Should You Run Your Website Localization Project On MotaWord

To see just how easy and affordable it is to get a quality German translation for your website go MotaWord for a free quote 24/7.

The MotaWord Price-Point

Published on Mar 18, 2019

MotaWord is your business partner for delivering high-quality translation at the lowest cost possible on the market. How can we prove it? Our company’s performance speaks for itself, with countless documents successfully translated to date, we consistently provide the best in quality translation on-time, and at an affordable price-point.

Our cloud-based API-enabled translation platform allows buyers to access the services of thousands of tested, qualified, expert linguists committed to providing accurate translation in record time. There is no other company on the market that does exactly what we do, at the price-point we offer.

Our pricing includes a full translation and proofreading of the document you provide, completed at the deadline you require. We complete translations 20 times faster than our closest competitor and we have a very simple pricing structure 14 US cents per word for any language.

Of course, projects are the heart of MotaWord. Every time you log on to our site to upload your document and receive your quote, you will be able to add all of your documents, style guides, glossaries, as well as any combination of language pairs you require for your translation. Some modifications may be required depending on the file format and overall needs of the project, but our MotaWord internal team is always standing by, working 24 hours, 7 days a week around the globe to assist in any additions your project needs.
When you upload your documents, glossaries, style guides, and anything else your project needs to ensure accurate translation, you will receive a single project detail with its total word count, price, language pairs, status, and related dates. Then, watch us work! As a client, you can access your project at any time through your dashboard, make comments to working translators, and view the progress of your project. Your account will be charged as soon as your project is launched for translation, and the price will also be shown on the project model in your dashboard.

In addition to our simple pricing basics, MotaWord has a few other tricks up our sleeves, should you want more out of your experience. It is likely that, as a client attached to a reputable company, you are eligible for our corporate account benefits.

A corporate account with MotaWord will allow you to receive your translations actively, regularly, and of course, accurately, whenever you need them. As your company expands, your translations should be one step ahead. A corporate account will allow your organization to order services at any time and have your company be billed monthly.

After setup, you and your authorized team members will be able to order translation services at any time without the need for any payment information.

Within the account, hand picked, authorized linguists will be designated to translate your projects consistently, within your desired time-frame. Your corporate account will help you avoid minimum charges and allow you to order even a single sentence for translation and editing.

A corporate account is ideal for companies who have an ongoing need for translation services, at a specific volume, and at a discounted price. At MotaWord, we believe every company with global dreams deserves the excellent services we provide.

MotaWord is exceptional because we dramatically increase the productivity and skill of our translators by allowing them to share resources, work together, and learn from each other. It is at the core of this collaboration that allows us to offer you lightning fast translation at the highest quality in the shortest time.

Don’t believe us? Try us for yourself and order your translation today.

About MotaWord

MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock, and over 15 thousand professional translators, MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

Citations: PRWeb

Translating the Work of a Real-Life Superhero - Remembering Stan Lee

Published on Mar 18, 2019

Stan Lee
December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018

"Stan Lee was as extraordinary as the characters he created [...] A superhero in his own right to Marvel fans around the world, Stan had the power to inspire, to entertain and to connect. The scale of his imagination was only exceeded by the size of his heart."

- Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger

The marvelous Stan Lee was a comic book writer, artist, and publisher. As editor-in-chief and chairman emeritus of Marvel Comics, Stan Lee was the face behind the booming superhero industry for decades until his death on November 12, 2018, in Los Angeles, California. Marvel Comics is widely considered as being one of two giants in the superhero franchise. Its parent company, Marvel Entertainment, is an owned subsidiary by the Disney Company. Marvel Comics and Marvel Entertainment have revolutionized the entertainment industry, but have also affected global cultural sensibilities. With the idea that any ordinary person can be a superhero, Lee gave hope to new generations for a better life. Lee’s creations allowed the comic book industry to move from a fringe sub-culture to a widely consumed global phenomenon. Headquartered in New York City, Marvel is no stranger to global fame, and with that comes lots and lots of need for translation.

Created in 1961, the Marvel universe was launched with The Fantastic Four and began to grow across the globe, demanding comic books by commissioned artists Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. With its first release, readers were introduced for the first time to a world of superheroes interacting with current global affairs. Characters with incredible supernatural abilities were able to interact with each other in a realistic, true to life fashion, allowing fans to connect to powerful stories like never before.
Comic book culture has been profoundly influenced by translation around the world. The two defining moments solidifying this cultural shift in written entertainment being the “golden age” of North American comics in the 1930s, and the height of the Japanese manga craze in the 1990s.
Storyline organized into brief moments shown in panels across a page may have started with the major influence from the United States, but the expansion of this cultural form worldwide has had an undeniable effect.
Lee had a hand in the evolution of comic book language as well. Reinventing bland declarations of plot into sensational, jazzy dialogue allowed readers to read directly and fluidly; Lee’s re-invention of the way the books were written allowed the story to happen to the reader, just like it was happening to the characters in the story itself.
The books instilled powerful feelings of belonging in fans, and shortly the trend continued with a boom of fresh new characters flooding the early 1960s - Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, and The X-Men. The Majority of these books were written by Lee during that time, illustrated by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko.
“The Marvel Method” was Stan Lee’s way of brainstorming a new story with an artist; the artist would draw up some story panels, and Lee would fill-in word balloons with captions. A style that became well known as quintessentially comic.

Stan Lee is considered by many of his fans to be the single most significant author of the super-hero pop-craze that has inflicted the 21st Century and is considered to be the sole creator of the said universe. Giving birth to dozens of Marvel titles between 1961 and 1972 is not only his crowning achievement, but the cultural implications of his stories allow everyone to feel like their own superhero.

Stan Lee in numbers:

100+

Number of character Stan Lee created, including Iron Man and Black Panther.

4+	Marvel Comics will team up with Italian publisher Panini Comics to translate its most popular material into French, German, and Italian. Titles include Deadpool, Civil War, Avengers, and Ms. Marvel, with new titles released each month.

11+

With translations now available in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French, Russian, Hindi, German, Italian, Portuguese and Hebrew, Marvel’s creations will now be even more widely accessible to fans around the globe.

For more comic and graphic novel translation, click here.
Create your own Marvel Comics here.

About MotaWord
MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock, and over 15 thousand professional translators, MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

About This Article

Famous Translators is a MotaWord segment showcasing notable professional translated works and famous linguists from history to the present. We will be researching, compiling and sharing stories that matter to every translator on our blog.

You, too can be published right here on the MotaWord blog site. To help us make this segment more tailored to our community, contribute any comments, ideas for articles, or share your story. Please contact kali@motaword.com.

Check out our previous "Famous Translators" articles:

Citations: ComicBook, ResearchGate, Britannica, IMDb, HollywoodReporter, TED, LanguageMagazine, MultiversityComics, Vulture

Korean Translation, Why?

Published on Mar 17, 2019

If you are looking to order Korean Translation service you are in the right place (just the wrong page). You can order Korean translation service anytime, day or night by clicking this link: Order Korean Translation

Summary: Learn about the South Korean economy to understand how a Korean translation of your website and marketing materials gives you access to this valuable market.

With many South Korean companies doing business globally and with an ever more affluent consumer base willing to buy online, it is imperative that your company have Korean translations of your offerings. Why leave this rich market untapped? Let’s consider a few of the main drivers of this thriving economy and how MotaWord can help you unlock your company’s share through a Korean translation of your content.

South Korea’s main industries are: Electronics, Telecommunications, Automobile, Chemicals, Shipbuilding, and Steel. The South Korean economy is strongly influenced by conglomerates called chaebols. These business entities are large conglomerates run and controlled by an owner or family and is commonly made up of a large number of diversified affiliates. On top of these large conglomerates, South Korea is also home to a flourishing startup scene mainly in the capital city of Seoul. (read more about the startup scene in Seoul)

Out of a population of 51 Million (CIA Factbook) for the whole country, Seoul is really the dominating city with close to 10 million people.

Economic Overview (2017 est.CIA Factbook)

4th largest in Asia

11th largest in the world

GDP Per Capita PPP: $39,500 USD

According to a noted research company, Global By Design, leading global brands support an average of 32 languages. Uber supports 46 languages. That’s a lot of talking cars! But Wikipedia is the winner with a staggering 280 languages supported. As your company grows, having a Korean translation for your content will be only one part of your globalization efforts.

5 Most Profitable Companies in South Korea:

Samsung Electronics - The world’s largest producer of smartphones, semiconductor chips, and televisions. Founded in 1969, Samsung Electronics originally made refrigerators, televisions and washing machines. Now 50 years later it is valued at nearly $209 billion with profits of $59 billion on $215 billion in revenue. (Samsung.com)
SK Holdings - Founded in 1953, this conglomerate is made up of 95 companies. The core companies are in energy and telecommunications and include shipping and chemical production. Sk Holdings has revenue of $26.77 billion and net profits of $2.7 billion. (Reuters)
Hyundai Motors - South Korea’s largest auto company and the world’s 3rd largest. Founded in 1967 the company has annual revenues of $85 billion with net profits of $1.6 billion. (Hyundai.com)
POSCO - Is a multinational steel manufacturing company is the world’s largest steel producer with an annual output of 21 million tons of steel. Annual revenues are $59 billion with net profits of $7.25 billion. (World Atlas)
LG Electronics - Was founded in 1958 and Is also a South Korea based multinational company. With annual revenues in 2017 of $55.4 billion and profits of $2.23 billion, the company is second only to Samsung Electronics in the production of televisions. (LG Newsroom)

More on the major companies of South Korea: The Most Profitable Companies of South Korea

Education System (worldtop20.org)

As of 2017, South Korea’s educational system ranked first in the world for the fourth year in a row. And the country is expected to maintain this ranking for the foreseeable future. Their excellent school system tracks with the rise in the average income of workers ($35,191 in 2017 Source: Wikipedia). With internet use also rising smart companies are creating Korean translations of their online content.

Internet and Mobile Phone Penetration

(as of 2017 statistica.com)

Internet Penetration (2017) 95.1%

Number Internet Users 43.94 Mil.

Number of mobile internet users 40.18 Mil.

Average internet speed 28.6 Mbps

(Global average 7 Mbps)

E-commerce

Source: eshopworld.com

Currently, there are 30.5 million online shoppers and that is expected to grow to ~32 million by 2021. Online shoppers on average are expected to spend $1,023 annually. The current online purchasing power of Korean speaking online shoppers is over 31 billion dollars annually. (eshopworld.com)

In 2017, online purchases from the foreign business were $2.0 billion, with US online retailers taking 55% of that business. But before we rest on our laurels, we need to consider that this is a decline from 2016 where US online retailers had 65% of those purchases from foreign purchases. The E.U. and China are increasing their share of the South Korean market. (Source: export.gov) There is, of course, the proximity card there but also the fact that both E.U. and China are more adept at localizing their offerings through Korean translations and speaking to Korean consumers in their language. E.U. especially has translation on automatic pilot as the block of countries deal with 27 languages on an ongoing basis.

Market Outlook
South Korea’s economy shows signs of continued growth. The government is investing in education and the technology sector to entice tech companies to establish a presence in the country.

Given the clear strength of South Korea’s e-commerce economy and competition from the E.U. and China, US businesses must have a Korean translation of their websites and other content in order to enter and thrive in the South Korean market. The size of the pie may be increasing but so are the number of people at the table.

Watch this video, South Korea is known for its advanced technological innovation

Read our blog, Why Should You Run Your Website Localization Project On MotaWord

And visiting South Korean businesses to explore partnership opportunities also means you’ll need Korean translations of your business cards.

Read, Translate a Business Card Into Korean, Korean Translation is hard. Ask Koreans...

And… for a free quote on any of your translation needs, 24/7, click this link.

German Translator in Switzerland: A Translator Shares Their Life

Published on Mar 17, 2019

Although New York and Paris based, MotaWord’s translators represent over 80 languages in 154 countries. How each grew to become a professional translator reflects the cultures that make the world so rich. In this blog, Irena Rullo, a German translator in Switzerland recounts her path to becoming a French to German translator.

A French to German Translator Acquires Her Skills

Growing up, what languages were spoken at home?

I grew up in the German-speaking part of Switzerland in a family from southern Italy. At home, we spoke Italian and our Italian dialect. At school, I spoke Swiss German with the other children and in class, the lessons were held in standard German. So I think of myself as being native in four languages.

Though Swiss, Irena Rullo does not speak the 4th Swiss language, Romansh. Watch a few people speak this rare languag

How did you bring your skills up to this professional level?

Growing up in a multilingual environment helped the most. Later at school, we also learned French and then Latin. I hated Latin, but now realize it helped me understand the deeper importance of grammar. After school, I started working for the Government that communicates in the three official languages, German, French and Italian. As I know all three languages I often had to translate short internal emails. I always enjoyed those jobs and a couple of years ago became trained as a professional translator.

And on the topic of training, read The Expertise of a MotaWord Translator. Learn about the thousands of highly trained translators working collaboratively on translations for MotaWord. We rigorously evaluate, train, monitor and work with our translators to hone their skills. That’s how we can provide you the very highest quality translations quickly and at competitive prices.

A French to German Translator’s Work Habits

Usually, what language pairs do you work in?

On MotaWord I translate from French and English to German – there haven't been many projects from Italian to German yet. (Irena mostly works on the projects of Avis Verifies and Trading 212)

Describe a typical day working on a MotaWord translation job?

I don't have a typical day on MotaWord as I still have my regular work. Normally, I check my email or the platform when I come home to see if there are any projects. Sometimes I also work on MotaWord projects during my lunch break but mostly on my day off and on weekends.

Highs and Lows of a French to German Translator

What do you most enjoy about translating?

The diversity of the topics. Each time I have a new topic I also learn something new; that keeps it interesting. I enjoy also having to be creative, especially when dealing with content that is difficult to translate.

What do you least enjoy about translating?

If I have absolutely no previous knowledge of a topic it takes me longer to learn the basics and the typical words and formulations. And if I can't find many sources for reference, I'm still not sure of the wording (and I don't like not being absolutely sure).

Any advice for German translators who are just beginning?

Invest time for research at the beginning to grow your knowledge in a topic and the specific terms used. For MotaWord I suggest to always check and learn from the corrections from the proofreader. Also, keep an eye on the translations of others. It helps to see how a problem can be solved (sometimes even in many different ways).

Irena shows how being born Swiss made it easier to be a French to German translator. Switzerland has 4 national languages, German, French, Italian and Romansh. All but Romansh are official languages. This Wikipedia article shows how those languages are distributed across Switzerland.

Giving Feedback on a MotaWord Translation - For Translators

Published on Mar 11, 2019

Failing to give feedback has consequences. Feedback is necessary to address unacceptable behavior, and while MotaWord seeks to set our translators up for success, sometimes information can slip through the cracks, leaving room for constructive criticism from MotaWord peers, or our Internal Team.

We have created an action plan to help you in the moments where you would like to give feedback and do not know how to, or, you find yourself on the receiving end of some feedback from MotaWord, and are not sure what next steps you need to take to respond and implement the feedback.

Instead of saving up all of your feedback until it feels like a volcano ready to explode, MotaWord has set up numerous features to empower you to give feedback anytime, anywhere.

Feedback does not have to be fear-provoking or unnerving, especially when handled immediately. Giving feedback is the key to improving quality - and the promise of quality is a page we should all be on when working on a MotaWord translation.

1. Double check ambiguous feedback
Let’s say you receive a comment on your translator dashboard from a fellow translator, a proofreader, or a client stating, “sorry, that is wrong, you always make this mistake.” What do you do? This comment has no clear action plan and does not specifically let you know what the feedback is - just that it is undesirable.

When engaging in a feedback discussion, it is important to make your intentions clear, which this comment does very well. The writer is unhappy with the performance. But this comment is unhelpful because not only is the feedback ambiguous, it exaggerates frequency.

We need to know what the mistake was, where to find the mistake, and how to go about fixing the mistake. Be specific in your language and, if you’re on the receiving end of such feedback, ask clarifying questions. We are always available to mediate any feedback conversations.

2. Actionable feedback with a negative or aggressive tone.

There is no need to be personal or nasty with any feedback you give. Be clear, concise, and neutral in your tone.

3. A peer asks you to make changes violating the client-provided style guide or glossary.

The immediate first step here should be obvious to you - do not deviate from the client provided glossaries and style-guides. If someone should give you such feedback, politely inform them of this policy and refer them to the appropriate client-provided documents, then let the internal team know.

4. Limit your comments
Being clear and concise in every aspect of your life will wildly improve your ability to accept and retain any feedback thrown your way. When giving feedback, make sure you clearly outline the issue, what the correction should be, and how to solve it. Any given feedback session should not discuss more than 2 issues.

5. Errors vs. mistakes

An error is a flaw in thinking, and a mistake is a flaw in mechanics. For example, an error is something done often due to lack of knowledge, teachability, or ignorance. A mistake is a one-off spelling error, an accidentally missed word, or an untranslated string. Both are in need of correction, but the feedback process and educational needs are very different.

Being an active translator that is committed to MotaWord’s high-quality promise will not only raise your value as an employee with MotaWord, but it will give you more work, and ultimately lead you to proofreader status and more. As a translator, we need to know your name, and we need to trust you. We chose you, vetted your credentials, and are committed to your professional growth as a translator. Help us, help you.

These are just a fraction of the policies and standards we expect from our translators.
If you receive any feedback violating these guidelines, please let the MotaWord internal team know.

For more information regarding:

Giving Feedback on a MotaWord Translation, click here.

For Giving Feedback on a MotaWord Translation - For Clients, click here.
For Giving Feedback on a MotaWord Translation - For Proofreaders, click here

About MotaWord

MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock, and over 15 thousand professional translators, MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

Citations: TED, FastCompany

Giving Feedback on a MotaWord Translation - For Proofreaders

Published on Mar 11, 2019

Our proofreader community is an integral part of MotaWord’s high-quality promise. Our most experienced linguists, our proofreaders, are what set us apart from other translation services. Giving feedback on a MotaWord translation is one of the most important jobs a proofreader has, and this small guide serves to aid in any questions you may have during that process.

Be prepared
Let’s say you are proofreading a completed translation on a project, and you come across some unsatisfactory strings. You see this string has some clear complications, there are comments from the client, and the translator is unresponsive. Check the style guide, the glossaries, and check with the MotaWord internal team. Rely on your own expertise as well as the expertise of those around you to correct the mistake. Reach out to the translator is a question, and if they are unresponsive, let us know. Use any combination of the many tools we have to offer.

Avoid confusing language
It is no secret that everyone has their own perspective. As a proofreader, it is your responsibility to accommodate your tone when giving feedback to ensure your points are getting across clearly. Abstract words and concepts without solid, actionable examples will not yield any result. Confusing language will lead to more confusion. Keep it simple; keep it clear; keep it high-quality.
Refer to the client provided style-guide and glossaries
Our clients have a very specific vision and image in their mind of what they want from our translation services, and we trust our proofreaders to be aligned with that vision. This is where the style-guide and glossaries come in. It is up to you and the team of translators on the project to use the information in the style-guide exactly as the client asks. No embellishments, no additions. In the event that something in the style-guide or glossary is confusing to you, please reach out to us via email or the intercom widget on our site.

4. Be communicative with the MotaWord internal team
We are here to help you! Do not keep anything secret. We all work remotely, all over the world. When you need us, we will be there. Letting us know what is happening with a project, how you are working, and any comments your colleagues are making on a project will always do one thing: make our translation services better. Providing any feedback to us regarding your proofreading experience will give us more insight into how our colleagues’ performance is progressing and will allow us to make any necessary changes to solve any problems that may come. Just because a situation may initially be unhappy does not mean it needs to end that way, and a productive feedback session is one that ends on a positive note.

5. Help to improve the quality of our community
How can we improve in silence? How can a person improve their performance if they only receive positive or negative feedback? A happy relationship between positive and constructive feedback is crucial to achieving the desired change in behavior. We have automated features to help make quality assurance easier. The best tool we have found is for our translators and proofreaders to work together with our translation editor. Automatic suggestions will prompt you from a translation memory associated with that client.

Our single-proofreader model and philosophy were not conceived overnight. When done right, it works to deliver the MotaWord high-quality translation promise. Following these simple feedback guidelines as a proofreader will enhance the communicative relationship with your colleagues, and will result in increased motivation, respect, and productivity. We are all involved in MotaWord under the common desire to deliver the best to our clients. We should all be committed to respecting each others’ feedback just the same.

About MotaWord

MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock, and over 15 thousand professional translators, MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

Citations: TED

10 Ways to Save Time With MotaWord

Published on Mar 11, 2019

If you’ve ever worked on a localization project, you know that having the right service at your fingertips can save you a lot of time (and stress). Taking on projects that require translation to multiple languages is by no means a simple job, but we’re here to take the hassle out of this somewhat tedious process. We’ve put together a list of 10 time-saving features of MotaWord to make your life easier. Check them out to find out how MotaWord will help you speed up your translation workflow by making it more efficient.

Collaborative translation. MotaWord combines the efforts of talented human translators from around the world. This ability to simultaneously utilize multiple translators makes MotaWord exceptionally fast.
MotaWord offers translation to 80+ languages which means you could do your whole localization process in one place. No more search for an individual translator of that rare language, we’ve got them all.
Each translator is super efficient. They’re not only native in their languages but also have expert knowledge of their specialized field which gives them a real unfair advantage of being extremely fast while delivering high-quality translations.
Instant quote on MotaWord will help you get immediate insights into our pricing. Because waiting for a quote via email is so 1990.
MotaWord removed the never-ending back and forth before translators can start working on your project. As soon as you submit a project, they’re automatically invited via email. We eliminated waiting and delays, that’s it.
MotaWord API allows you to easily automate and integrate the ordering and delivery of translated documents into your own system to make your translation fast and easy to manage.
MotaWord offers a few very powerful plugins including WordPress plugin, Grabber Chrome Extension and Google Drive Chrome App that eliminate the hassle of manually copying and pasting content from one medium to another.
MotaWord supports a variety of file formats (and the list grows every day). No need to convert your original files into something else just to use our translation service. You may upload whatever you’re used to working with and we’ll handle the rest.
Our translators use lots of professional resources like glossary, translation engine and memory which makes them very fast while maintaining high-quality work.
Great customer support matters. At MotaWord, client’s problem is never somebody else’s business! Every person on our team—no matter the job title—spends some time talking directly to our customers and helping them if they get stuck.

Are there any other features of MotaWord that saved you time? Let us know on social media (don’t forget to mention us @MotaWord), and we'll be sure to check them out.

About MotaWord

MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock and over 15 thousand professional translators MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

Citations: Collaborative Translation, MotaWord Languages, MotaWord Developer Portal, MotaWord File Formats

Get a Certified translation from Spanish to English for USCIS

Published on Mar 10, 2019

When applying for a Green Card, Naturalization or to replace your Naturalization or Citizenship documents you will often need to translate documents from Spanish to English.

Often times birth certificates, marriage certificates, diplomas, transcripts, inoculation documents, divorce decrees and death certificates that are in a foreign language need to be translated into English in order to be admissible in your immigration file.

We are focused on the most widely translated language in the United States for this article and that is of course Spanish. The Spanish into English translation of your documents needs to adhere to the rules set forth by the USCIS. The translation needs to be a certified translation from Spanish to English for USCIS. (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) It is always more prudent to get a 3rd party, who knows what they are doing, such as MotaWord, to handle these translations.

A certified translation needs to be done by a person who attests to being competent to translate the foreign language (in this case Spanish) into English. When the translator performs the certified Translation from Spanish to English for USCIS they then certify that work as being complete and accurate with their signature (sometimes it also needs a notarization but more on that for a later article - we are only covering certified translation of Spanish into English documents for USCIS in this one).

For all the rules on the certified translation, you may click this link and go to the source at the Certificate of Translation page on the USCIS website:

On MotaWord, it’s simple to get your documents translated from Spanish into English. Whether it is a birth certificate, marriage certificate, diploma or any other document we’ll do it for you quickly and correctly. With legal documents and immigration issues, you must use a service that knows what they are doing or you could end up regretting it.

How do you get this done? All you need to do is take a photo of the document on your phone, upload it to MotaWord, get a price quote and make your payment. (You can get a quote 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) Your quote will include an estimate of how soon you can expect to receive your translated document.

Here’s a video on Ordering a Translation on MotaWord

Usually, within a few hours, we will send you an email with your certified translation in a PDF format with all the signatures, ready to be used by the USCIS.

Wondering how we can translate a picture of words? MotaWord uses a technology called OCR (Optical Character Recognition) that can read the words in a picture. And this can be done for Spanish or any language.

You may get more information about our certified translation service via this link: Certified Translation

You may also see a brief video of how to order your translation using your smartphone in this video.

Now that you know how easy it is, don’t delay. Get a quote today so you know your certified translation from Spanish to English for USCIS is ready to be submitted.

Spanish Translation for Your Website: Which Spanish?

Published on Mar 10, 2019

Where Spanish is Spoken

Would the rising incomes represented in the Spanish speaking markets around the world be of interest to your sales efforts? If that’s a resounding “yes”, then let’s discuss this Spanish translation topic a bit further.

Translations can quickly go off the rails…
Poorly translated material can be embarrassing or worse. Bi-lingual Spanish/English speakers will enjoy:

Las mejores peores traducciones entre el español y el inglés (FOTOS)
(The best ‘worst translations’ between Spanish and English)

On a prescription medicine bottle, the English directions were to take the medicine, “...once a day”. The Spanish language version read, “...once veces al día”. That means “eleven times per day” - ‘once’ is Spanish for ‘eleven’. Not. Good.

Or the Starbucks sign that reads: “Exit Only” and is translated as “Exito Aqui” (“I succeed here”. Nice to know but how do I get out of this place?)

Finding the right partner for your Spanish TranslationYou have seen the possible errors. No one in their right mind would want to subject their brand or business to these types of embarrassing mistakes. So what is the first thing to do in avoiding these for your Spanish translation needs?

Well, the answer is obvious. You need to select the right translation partner. And here is a checklist for that:

Does the Spanish translation service I will use provide around the clock service?
Do they have access to the latest technology and tools necessary to ease the burden of Spanish translation?
Do they have access to professional Spanish translators?
Will they be able to save me from archaic translation industry practices such as “minimum charges” and “additional charges for proofreading”? and
Will they be responsive to my needs 24/7 through always accessible account managers?

Not to toot our own horn but MotaWord does these and many more. But let’s get back to the issue of translating your site or content into Spanish...

There’s more than one kind of Spanish?
Of these 480 million Spanish speakers it is estimated that 90% are in Latin America. That would cover the varieties of Spanish spoken in the U.S., Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. The balance are in Spain, the Canary Islands, and Equatorial Guinea.

Spanish Translation for a Globalized Website or Localized Website?

What countries or regions am I trying to reach?
Will a broadly understandable globalized website meet my goals?
If I choose website localization to translate my website into Spanish will it have sufficient impact to justify the time, effort and money to address more specific markets?

You’ll need to do your market research to determine whether to translate your website into the Spanish of a specific region, i.e. opt for website localization or whether to create a globalized website by translating it into Spanish that is more widely accessible but less calibrated to a specific culture.

Globalize: One Size Sorta Fits All?
The kind of Spanish that is understandable to all Spanish speakers has a few names:

Neutral Spanish
Standard Spanish
Global Spanish
Universal Spanish

Essentially what each of these terms describes is a dialect that is devoid of idioms or local expressions associated with a given country or region. Interestingly, there is a grammatical tense that is infrequently used except in the globalized version of Spanish. That’s the future perfect tense - “I will have completed my work before I go out to dinner.” A globalized website would be translated into this kind of Spanish.

We wrote about this subject earlier on our blog: The Case for Localization

Localize: Let’s Get Specific
The other approach is of course to speak the language of your “target market”. Simply put, if you are selling to Argentina your Spanish translation should respect the local idioms and usage of the Spanish language in Argentina. Website localization requires both translating your website into the dialect used in a country or region while respecting the culture specific to that locale. On a pure vocabulary basis, a frequent example cited is choosing the words, ‘coger’ versus ‘agarrar’. They both mean to grab or pick up but in Latin American Spanish ‘coger’ has the meaning ‘to have sex with someone’. That’s a distinction worth knowing. So converting vocabulary and idioms is only the beginning of translating your website into Spanish that is localized. It also involves knowledge of the culture and how to address the audience in that culture.

So when you ask yourself, what’s the best way to translate my website into Spanish, you know the choice is between website localization or a more general, globalized website. Either way…

Read why MotaWord is your best choice for taking on this job: Why should you run your website localization project on MotaWord?

And then just let us know how we can help...

The Best Translation Companies in New York City

Published on Mar 9, 2019

Do you need to find a translation company in New York City?

You are in, arguably, the most cosmopolitan city in the world and your company is doing business internationally. For whatever reason: you have an overseas client, a partner in another country, you have hired a foreign worker and need to handle immigration matters or your company now realizes you need to go global. Congratulations! As they say, ‘That’s a good problem to have.’

Whatever the reason, identifying a first-rate translation company is an urgent priority. It’s your job to see that it’s done and done right.

How does one determine the quality and reliability of a translation company?

Do a web search for the best or top-rated translation companies in New York City and you’ll come up with a list that includes companies that also do interpreting, simultaneous translating and a host of services that have nothing to do with your need. Should you entrust them with something you have no way of checking? Plus, dedicated translation agencies are seriously expensive due to their archaic ways and human-intensive processes.

Relax! Your New York City translation company doesn’t have to be in New York City.

That’s just a side benefit, in this case. Our company, MotaWord has 15,000 skilled, thoroughly screened translators working globally. These experienced translators have the training and use of our collaborative, AI-powered platform. That ensures you get the results you want and deserve.

On the topic of training translators read, The Expertise of a MotaWord Translator. Learn about the thousands of highly trained translators working collaboratively on translations for MotaWord’s global clients. We rigorously evaluate, train, monitor and work with our translators to hone their skills. That’s how we can provide you the very highest quality translations quickly and at competitive prices.

On submitting your work to be translated, our platform informs all the qualified translators on our network of the availability of your job. That job then starts immediately with several translators working on it simultaneously. This results in you getting your translation faster than your customary translator could ever manage. But this isn’t a patchwork job by any means. We take scrupulous care that all terms are consistent along with the tone and style. How do we do this? The proofreaders on the MotaWord platform are trained to produce a single seamless work that feels as though it came from one authoritative source - working alongside our translators.

The way your translation should sound, its “register” if you will is determined by the collaboration of translators and proofreaders on MotaWord. The subject of “Register” in sociolinguistics speaks to the way that people speak in various contexts.

Wikipedia describes it:
In linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, when speaking in a formal setting, an English speaker may be more likely to use features of prescribed grammar than in an informal setting—such as pronouncing words ending in -ing with a velar nasal instead of an alveolar nasal (e.g. "walking", not "walkin'"), choosing more formal words (e.g. father vs. dad, child vs. kid, etc.), and refraining from using words considered nonstandard, such as ain't.

Knowing these concepts and using them as both a translator and proofreader is key to an accurate and consistent translation. MotaWord’s proofreaders have worked for years as translators. Each has developed their skills to understand the nuances required to use the right phrase in the right context.

So, to answer the original question, the best translation company in New York City is also all over the globe.

And you’ll know your work will be done accurately, reliably, faster and at far lower cost using our AI assisted network of top-notch translators and proofreaders. Watch our introductory video.

Then contact MotaWord.

Giving Feedback on a MotaWord Translation - For Clients

Published on Mar 8, 2019

At MotaWord, our clients are our focus. Giving feedback is a delicate process, and we want to make this process as seamless as possible for you, our treasured clients.

As a client, we hope you never have to utilize the following information. At MotaWord it is our goal and passion to provide you with excellent, high-quality translations, every time - exactly as you request them. We love to hear both positive and constructive feedback on how we can make our services better for our clients. We hope to hear you shout from the mountaintops how perfectly satisfied you are with our performance, but in the event, this is not the case, constructive feedback is encouraged and embraced. We are here to deliver exactly what you need for your translation.

Client and customer feedback is extremely valuable to us, and without it, MotaWord cannot grow. How you feel about us should not be a secret.

“I like it, but we wanted something different”
This kind of feedback indicates that there was a key misunderstanding at the time of ordering your translation. Somewhere along our journey together, we stopped being on the same page. We have a few options to prevent this kind of feedback and deliver you our high-quality promise.

a. Make sure you make use of “Style Guides” and “Glossaries” when ordering your translation
To prevent your project from getting started on a shaky foundation, and to make your goals as a client clear to our cloud-based, collaborative team of linguists, make sure to provide a style guide and glossary to your project. This will ensure that every individual working on your translation will be virtually sitting next to you, getting all of their stylistic, grammatical, and localization questions answered by your ready-made style guide and glossary. You may also make use of our “client comments” section of your dashboard, where you are able to make comments to any linguist working on your translation project in real time. If any glaring issues should arise, we will also be there watching, and you can reach out to us anytime via the intercom widget on your main page.

“That is the wrong translation and I want a different one.”
An unfortunate mistake, indeed. Whether it is your fault or ours, when you order a translation with MotaWord, you agree to promptly review the delivered translations and notify us within 7 days of any errors such as outright mistranslations, typos, omissions or nonadherence to any approved glossary and/or style guide. We will correct such errors at no cost to you. You may cancel the services you have ordered at any time - in writing. You will have to pay for the amount of translation work already completed in draft condition at the time of the cancellation. In the event that you send us a document in error, and the translation has already been completed correctly and successfully, you will need to order a new translation with the correct document and pay again as if it were the original.

*Complete Silence*
Silence is indicative of a big communication problem that needs to be addressed as soon as possible. We encourage you to communicate with us as much as possible and let us know anything and everything you think about our translations, performance, and your satisfaction as a whole. Ideally, we should be in clear communication with you before you order, during the translation process, and after your translation is complete, proofread, and delivered back to you. The worst feedback we can receive is no feedback at all. If we see you going silent, we will reach out to you.

As a client, your feedback is necessary throughout the process of translation. You are free and encouraged to be as involved as you wish during the translation and proofreading process. Clients can make comments utilizing their dashboard in real time, and the individuals working on your translation will be able to see the comments and act accordingly.

As linguistic professionals, we understand that giving feedback can be a delicate process. There is no doubt that identifying issues and solving them is invaluable, but feedback should be managed positively and with integrity so we can complete your translation in a timely manner and help improve and grow your business.

For MotaWord’s general principles for giving feedback on a MotaWord translation, click here.

If you are not a client or would like further reading on how we handle feedback at MotaWord, try Giving Feedback on a MotaWord Translation - For Translators or Giving Feedback on a MotaWord Translation - For Proofreaders.

About MotaWord
MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock, and over 15 thousand professional translators, MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

Citations: HubSpot

Call For Entrepreneurs / Business Developers, We’re Hiring!

Published on Mar 1, 2019

by Kerem Onen

MotaWord is looking for talented entrepreneurs and/or business developers to support its ambitious growth objectives in new countries and regions. Join our diverse and dynamic team in 3 continents and a network of fellow BD professionals all over the world.

Interested in joining a dynamic and diverse technology startup disrupting the translation industry by creating an innovative platform? MotaWord might have a position for you…

MotaWord is the World’s Fastest Business Translation Platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock and over 15 thousand professional translators MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language, up to 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

MotaWord’s hybrid translation solution combines the speed of a smart algorithm powered project management system and of collaborative translations, with the quality of human translations done by professional native speakers.

What you’ll be doing:

Understand and have full command of MotaWord's translation service offerings, capabilities, benefits, and competitive advantages
Research prospective clients through internet research, trade show lists, referrals, professional directories and personal investigation
Source and close new clients through referrals, cold calling, networking, trade shows, regional organizations, and any other means
Cultivate and maintain long term relationships with clients by delivering elite client service and engaging them by using knowledge of each industry and organization
Formulate sales plan to achieve monthly, quarterly, and annual sales targets
Generate daily outreach efforts to prospective clients
Build a productive pipeline and manage each phase of the sales process
Develop project budgets and create proposals
Track all customer sales related activities in MotaWord proprietary systems. Set and execute follow up tasks
Ensure that the www.motaword.com website is correctly setup for your region and is SEO competitive
Grow and manage our client database in your country/region
Maintain and develop relations with existing clients
Assist online marketing efforts in your country
Participate in events and shows to promote MotaWord’s unique translation solution
Work with our industry partners such as WeWork (https://www.motaword.com/blog/brand-ambassadors)

About you:

You have 1-2 years of sales experience, preferably in the Translation industry
You are interested in tech and innovative solutions
Comfortable working in a distributed time-zone, global team
You have a very good level of English (it will be your internal working language) and at least one other language
Proven sales life cycle experience - lead generation through business closing
Proven track record in achieving sales target
Excellent problem solving and analytical skills
Strong interpersonal skills
Effective time management

This is full time position with MotaWord that offers you the possibility to work within a truly global and growing technology platform. Your ability to join in on the ground floor will enable you to have even more pronounced sales targets and help disrupt a sleepy industry.

You will be compensated a base salary + a very high sales commission which we hope will entice you to onboard as many clients as possible for our platform.

Just click the button below to apply. We look forward to talking to you.

Translation Basics for Global Product Managers

Published on Feb 20, 2019

Understanding the best practices and limitations of translation and keeping current with what technology allows can be very important for global product managers. As a translation platform, we often see that both of these are not readily understood. Some think that machine translation is a viable alternative to product localization. Others think the traditional translation agency model is the only option they have. None of these statements are true and there are better options global product managers can use.

This article is a good place to start to learn some things to consider.

In an earlier role I had at an education company, we were building a digital platform for document management in the academic world. This platform allowed students, faculty, and researchers to share documents and collaborate on writing research papers. At first, the product team did not fully appreciate how universities in different countries view enforcing copyrights and their own agreements with content providers. This resulted in sales being hampered until we gave the customers’ admins the ability to restrict or turn off document sharing. Clearly, localization was not in for forefront of our planning and that cost us time and money.

Managing a product involves a lot of important steps. Understanding the user and market, determining the business strategy for that market, designing the user experience, ensuring product build and delivery and handling the product growth and customer support; these are all daunting tasks even on a single product and market. As a global product manager, you have to navigate multiple locales, multiple languages, and cultures. That’s when things become even more difficult.

The W3C’s page on internationalization gives an excellent example of the requirements of correctly localizing content for a specific market.

“Cultural problems also need to be considered. Symbolism can be culture-specific. The check mark means correct or OK in many countries. In some countries, however, such as Japan, it can be used to mean that something is incorrect. Japanese localizers may need to convert check marks to circles (their symbol for 'correct') as part of the localization process.”

The lesson here is that localization must take cultural differences into account. Merely translating text is not the end of the job when it comes to localization of content.

A translation service needs to support the task of a global product manager by being technologically current, low-cost, agile, truly on-demand, fast and allowing instant access to tens of thousands of skilled translators. The only contender for being able to do that is through an AI managed platform model. (Read here our article titled “Very fast translation thanks to a different approach”.

How early should a global product manager think about localization when developing a new product? That depends on a number of factors including, budget, available staffing, and your company’s resolve to be global.

In an ideal world global product managers should consider a localization component during these phases:

UX Design
Surveys
Interviews

For global product managers, there are clear liabilities in ignoring or delaying localization and translating during product development. Here’s a quick intro video that shows you just how easy it is to get started on MotaWord.

Forewarned is forearmed.

Translating The Language of Machines

Published on Feb 16, 2019

by Suleyman Sahin

Ever since their beginning, humans have evolved to use their hands to make tools and communicate with each other. These human-made tools have evolved to a point where we constantly use the greatest communication tool created to date: the computer. But how did that happen? How does our interaction with machines affect our life?

How can we transition from the very philosophical idea of human evolution to computational user experience and programming?

From my professional, technical perspective, I am amazed by the human mind’s ability to govern its environment. I decided to become an engineer to research that very topic. My job today at MotaWord is to translate routine problems into the language of the machines: into computer code.

The first computer ever was created for translation. This journey begins in England. Alan Turing was trying to crack encrypted Nazi military messages during World War II. With his mathematical genius and curiosity for machines, he realized that any system can be implemented by machines; as easy as a wristwatch showing time.

Computers are able to perform actions when you can “explain” it in their language: in code. But what exactly is computer code when it performs as a language? At heart, it is mathematics. Although coding engineers do not work with pure math or binary code, the language of the machines is far from human language. The language of the machines is derived from mathematical expressions.

Like natural, human languages, the programming language has grammatical rules. As you can guess when we talk about computers, there are many strict rules when it comes to explaining something to the computer to get it to perform the action we want. Do not worry, I am not going to bore you with language processing jargon. I just want to point out that we have to follow these programming rules of grammar with absolute certainty, so various services, like applications, can be enjoyed on your devices.

Another exciting element of machine language is communicating with an entity that is entirely digital. Have you ever thought that in the near future, we may be able to talk to a computer without knowing it is a machine? You may have heard about Artificial Intelligence and robots like Sophia from the news. Sophia can speak very fluently and give answers. What is the mechanism behind this phenomenon? A very complicated network of processors inside Sophia is trying to dissect the words and applying rules constantly. This is how robots can understand us.

In conclusion, we understand how professional translation is a cornerstone to keep ourselves connected to the world. At Motaword, we work every day to deliver you the fastest, most accurate translation experience with this philosophy, and we are using and researching the latest technology. We combine the latest advancements with topnotch human quality control methods.

And in doing so, we are bringing machines and humans closer.

About MotaWord

MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock and over 15 thousand professional translators MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

Citations: Stanford, Turing

Giving Feedback on a MotaWord Translation

Published on Feb 15, 2019

At MotaWord, we want to be better and do better for our clients, translators, and proofreaders. No matter which community you belong to, giving and receiving both positive and constructive feedback allows our professional community to grow and flourish, no matter what perspective we are working with. When giving feedback, any two parties involved may view the same situation differently, whether they realize it or not. Feedback issues must be resolved for MotaWord to be able to achieve the high-quality, professional translations for which we are known and loved.

As an internal team, we at MotaWord thrive on feedback from our clients, translators, and proofreaders. Without this information, we are nothing. MotaWord believes managing the different perspectives involved in the feedback received on a translation is just as important as the quality and accuracy of the translation itself. We find that having an agreed-upon process for giving feedback on a translation will, more often than not, prevent unnecessary altercations and will help all individuals involved solve issues easily and uniformly.

Life is already stressful, and we at MotaWord are in the business of relieving stress for our clients and employees - not creating a source for it.

Any issue that may require feedback is easy to solve if there is an agreed upon process.

Be Clear and Concise
Nothing is more gratifying than understanding another human being’s words and intentions. When we are specific, there is very little room for misunderstanding - only elaboration. The goal when providing any kind of feedback, whether it be positive or constructive, is to achieve a desired changed behavior. The receiver of your feedback will not understand what is problematic about a particular behavior if you do not spell it out for them in detail - we like to use the “explain it like I am 5 years old” rule. Part of the joy of working in a multilingual, cross-cultural environment is the misunderstanding, however, when addressing changed behaviors, it is important to be painfully clear in your words and intentions.
Be Action-Oriented: Create a Clear Path Forward
At MotaWord, we believe in delivering feedback proactively. Address issues immediately. Feedback should not come as a surprise to anyone, and providing feedback as close to the event as possible is the best way to ensure full understanding and illicit changed behavior.

Breathe and Check Perspective
We do not believe in being mean-spirited. Before you contact someone regarding their behavior, please take a moment to breathe and understand how your feedback may be received. Especially if the feedback is constructive, it is important to create safety and comradery before providing the feedback. If the person receiving the feedback does not feel comfortable, then the positive of constructive feedback you provide them will be ultimately unproductive. Check your bias. What is your motive for giving this feedback? Remind yourself why you are contacting this person and make sure the goal is to improve the situation and the person’s performance. Being harsh, critical, and offensive will accomplish nothing.
Have a Discussion
Nothing is worse when it comes to feedback then the 1,2 punch approach. “You ruined this project, and I will not work with you again”. Do not have a negative, one-sided interaction. Even if all your feedback is constructive, and you can think of nothing nice to say, take a moment to start a conversation with the person about any assumptions both of you may have about the project needing feedback. Every person on this planet has external stressors in their life, and work should not be another source of stress. Engage in a two-sided discussion that leads to a game plan for improvement. Discuss no more than two issues per feedback session.
Follow Through
This is where the MotaWord internal team comes in. Thanks to our strategy of working remotely, We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via our intercom widget on our website. Message us anytime with any feedback you may have regarding anything MotaWord. We are here to make high-quality translation seamless and effortless, and your cooperation with the above tactics will ensure a seamless working relationship that will benefit all involved.

When feedback is provided to the MotaWord internal team, after an appropriate amount of time has passed, we will follow up with the associated parties utilizing the feedback given to us. Thank you to all of our clients, translators and proofreaders for making MotaWord the world’s fastest business translation platform.

Are you reading this as a client, translator, or proofreader? Click below to review MotaWord feedback tactics tailored to your specific interests with us:

Giving Feedback On a MotaWord Translation: For Clients
Giving Feedback On a MotaWord Translation: For Translators
Giving Feedback On a MotaWord Translation: For Proofreaders

About MotaWord

MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock and over 15 thousand professional translators MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

Citations: BusinessNewsDaily, Entrepreneur, MindTools, Forbes

The Most Popular Online Language

Published on Feb 13, 2019

The most popular online language was the first thing that I started to research when I signed up to write articles for MotaWord. A global human translation platform with a twist. It is actually an AI coordinating their over 15 thousand strong translator base.

You might ask why. And to answer, one of my favorite quotes come to mind::
“Because that’s where the money is.” - Willie Sutton, bank robber, when asked why he robs banks.

Understanding what language internet users speak and the economic potential each language represents will empower you to increase your bottom line. Localizing your website across multiple languages, across borders will help you maximize your profits. Or you could leave that money on the table. On that topic, I would highly recommend that you read a previous article written by a colleague of mine titled; “Why should you run your website localization project on MotaWord?”

Back to our search on the most popular online language… Can you guess how many countries have a population that speaks the German language? Probably no. Well, I couldn’t either and that is why you should read on and find the answer.

Factoid: There are 22 countries and locales where the German language is either the main or one of the recognized official languages. But wait, there are a further 10 countries in which the German language is used by a significant subset of the population. This brings the number to 32 locales. Languages spread to other countries and regions for various reasons including colonization, trade, and conquest. For a full list of all those countries that speak German language you can see the link.

It is higher than you thought it would be right? So in my quest to look for the most popular online language I came across quite a few of these little factoids. I will not shy away from dropping them as necessary.

But the answer to the “What is the most popular online language?” is not German. It is another Germanic language. You guessed it right. It is in English. The English language is the most popular online language and the lingua franca of the internet.

Look at these numbers:
Online language users in millions (Source: statistic.com, as of Mar. 2017)

You can see the lead English language has over even Chinese. But, that being said, the savvy business people do not only see English as the clear winner when they look for the most popular online language.

They see the runner-ups and also see that a simple act of website translation into the 3 following popular online languages can add over 1 billion visitors to their potential reach.

Let me leave you with another of my favorite quotes:

“Skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.” - Wayne Gretzky, Hockey Hall of Fame member.

Keep the most popular online language in mind. But, get your site, content and market research material translated through global online providers like MotaWord that can support you all through the way.

This article is originally written in English, however, it will promptly be translated into Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, French, German, Hebrew, and Turkish.

I will leave you with this funny video of Hamilton translated back into English using Google Translate.

Deadly Translation: The Politics of Hitoshi Igarashi’s Japanese Version of The Satanic Verses

Published on Jan 26, 2019

Hitoshi Igarashi
10 June 1947 – 12 July 1991

"Scholars can't be worried about what will happen to them as a result of their work."
-Hitoshi Igarashi, on translating The Satanic Verses.

A Japanese scholar of Arabic and Persian literature and history, Hitoshi Igarashi was the first professional Japanese translator of Salman Rushdie’s controversial novel, The Satanic Verses. Translating the novel in the wake of the fatwas issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Igarashi was in direct violation of the Iranian government. Khomeini’s fatwa specifically called for the death of Salman Rushdie, as well as anyone else involved in the publication and distribution of the novel’s content. Igarashi translated the novel anyway. No specific charges were brought against Igarashi, but he was nonetheless found tragically murdered in his University of Tsukuba office in July 1991.

The 1989 Iranian fatwas issued by leader Ayatollah Khomeini charged all individuals involved in the production, promotion, and distribution of Salman Rushdie’s fictional novel with "insulting the sacred beliefs of Muslims”. Hitoshi Igarashi was found guilty in the eyes of the fatwa as evidenced by his Japanese translation of The Satanic Verses. The novel has been banned in Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Malaysia, South Africa, and Iran.
Mr. Igarashi was an associate professor of Comparative Islamic Culture at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. He was an avid writer of books on Islam, The Islamic Renaissance, as well as medicine and spirituality of the East. In addition to translating The Satanic Verses, he also translated Avicenna’s The Canon of Medicine into Japanese.
Mr. Igarashi was never formally charged with a crime, nor was he given the opportunity to defend himself before being killed. However, due to the international debate sparked by the public issuing of the fatwa, he explained his decision to translate The Satanic Verses despite the danger. He defended the novelist Salman Rushdie by saying the novel’s message was in line with Islamic mystical Sufi thought, that Rushdie was not anti-Islamic, and even went so far as to say that Rushdie’s “passage to England, just like Passage to India by E. M. Foster, represented a literature of exile and could be judiciously compared to the Hejra by Muhammad, to begin with, or to the "Western Exile" in Kairouan by Suhrawardi”.
Studying in 1976 in Iran at the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy, Igarashi stated in multiple interviews before his murder that he was not bothered by the threats he received as a result of the publication of the Japanese translation. Igarashi believed that the importance of Rushdie’s book lay not in its commentary on Islam but rather for its reflection of the British-Indian author's love-hate relationship with India.

It is inarguable that Hitoshi Igarashi was an avid supporter of Islamic art and culture. Choosing to translate The Satanic Verses despite the dangers was a brave expression in support of free speech and the love of art in any form. As of February 2016, $600,000 has been added to the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, who remains alive and well in his home in New York City.

Hitoshi Igarashi in numbers:

Number of individuals who have been extrajudicially executed outside of Iran since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
These murders are thought to have been carried out by agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Italian translator Ettore Caprioli and Norwegian translator William Nygaard were also two victims of the fatwa as a result of their respective translations. On July 3rd, 1991, Caprioli was attacked in Milan, surviving the assassination attempt. Nygaard’s assassination attempt resulted in Norway recalling its ambassador to Iran.

Number of copies of The Satanic Verses sold in Japan, making the novel wildly successful in the localized Japanese.

The number of years Salman Rushdie went into hiding after the issuance of the fatwa. Ayatollah Khomeini, who said the book was blasphemous and anti-Islamic, died in June 1989, but the assassination order has been reaffirmed by the Iranian authorities.

For the New York Times story on Igarashi’s murder in 1991, click here.

About MotaWord
MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock and over 15 thousand professional translators, MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

About This Article
Famous Translators is a MotaWord segment showcasing notable professional translated works and famous linguists from history to the present. We are researching, compiling and sharing stories that matter to every translator on our blog. You, too can be published right here on the MotaWord blog site - just contact kali@motaword.com.

Check out our previous "Famous Translators" articles:

Citations: IranRights, NYTimes, JapanTimes, LATimes, UPI

Playing with Portuguese: Giovanni Pontiero's Translations

Published on Jan 26, 2019

Giovanni Pontiero
10 February 1932 – 10 February 1996

“There are things that you can do in a romance language, syntactically, that you simply cannot do in English. You would just wind up with gobbledygook. You have to impose certain syntactical rules for it to be a sentence in English, so it doesn’t match up with the original. In other words, you can leave every subject pronoun out of the sentence and move things around in Spanish or Portuguese in a way that you simply cannot do in English. But Pontiero translates it beautifully.”

-Edith Grossman, on why Giovanni Pontiero became a famous translator.

Giovanni Pontiero was the leading professional translator of Portuguese literature in the 20th century. One of the most ardent advocates of Portuguese translation, Pontiero was a British scholar of Portuguese fiction, most famous for translating the work of Jose Saramago. Pontiero introduced many Portuguese authors to the English reading world, including Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Manuel Baneria and Clarice Lispector. In addition to Portuguese and English, Pontiero was also a translator of Spanish and Italian. His translation work received several international awards during his career.

Giovanni Pontiero received several awards and nominations throughout his career as a translator. His English versions of Saramago gave him the Independent Foreign Fiction Award in 1993, the American Translators Award in 1994, and the Teixeira-Gomes Translation Award from the Portuguese government, as well as a nomination for the Aristeion Award.
Mr. Pontiero was such a prolific, award-winning figure, that his very own award, the Giovanni Pontiero Prize for Translation, is given each year in his honor by Instituto Camões. Each year, the award is dedicated to an important translator; on years that fall on an even number, the Giovanni Pontiero Award is received by a Spanish translation originally in Portuguese, and on odd years the award goes to a Catalan translation originally written in Portuguese.

Credited for introducing Portuguese literature to the English world, Giovanni Pontiero is the pioneer of Portuguese to English translation in the 21st century. He is known for his kindness, brilliance, hospitality, love for his subjects, and for creating the warm family atmosphere in his university department. Giovanni Pontiero certainly deserves posthumous international recognition for his vast contributions to the global translation community.

Giovanni Pontiero in numbers:

Number of Jose Saramago novels Mr. Pontiero translated into English.

Number of novels by Brazilian author Clarice Lispector that Giovanni Pontiero translated into English.

Mr. Pontiero’s age of death on 10 February.

Giovanni Pontiero is commended in Edith Grossman’s interview here.

About MotaWord

MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock and over 15 thousand professional translators MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

About This Article
Famous Translators is a MotaWord segment showcasing notable professional translated works and famous linguists from history to the present. We are researching, compiling and sharing stories that matter to every translator on our blog. You, too can be published right here on the MotaWord blog site - just contact kali@motaword.com.

Check out our previous "Famous Translators" articles:

Citations: The Independent, ArchivesHub, Univ. of Barcelona, Fivebooks

Why Should You Run Your Website Localization Project On MotaWord?

Published on Jan 25, 2019

by Alican Kozoglu

MotaWord’s unique working model, known for generating high-quality translation way faster than its competitors, never fails to bring the ideal results demanded by our clients. Whether they are looking for a legal translation or localizing their marketing materials; you name it, MotaWord will do it! But for some project types, we offer even more features. Continuous translation projects, like website localizations, enjoy our smart approach the best!

And here’s why:
As someone who has the first-hand experience in every aspect involved in creating and localizing a website, I can tell you certain things that you would like your translation provider to offer you and the translators working on your project, and how MotaWord fits all of these requirements.

Without further ado…

On their MotaWord dashboard, our clients can see every detail regarding their projects.
Our 100% transparent, the cloud-based workflow is something we invite everyone to experience. Just by remaining on your dashboard after you have purchased your order, you can witness how fast - for most cases in just mere seconds - translators across the globe can start working on your project. You can monitor the progress of your project and check the strings (lines of translation) that are being translated in real time on our platform. Reach out to our MotaWord internal team via the Intercom widget on our main site, or to the translators working on the project by leaving comments.
You will be pleased to find very few mistakes from our vetted, professional translators.

When you work with skilled, professional linguists on MotaWord, and utilize our single-proofreader model, you produce high-quality translation; every time.

The quality in question could only be achieved by maintaining perfect accuracy; accuracy that can only be achieved through MotaWord.

In order to maintain accuracy, the glossaries are being used by the translation agencies and translators. While it is easy to find glossaries for generic subjects, things might get trickier as we go for the niches. They are important for all types of translation, but when it comes to website localization, they have a much more crucial role. Ex-The accuracy of a client’s translation depends on the glossary and style guide. At MotaWord, our website localization projects include glossaries either provided by the client or generated by our Translation Memory over time. Since this type of projects usually has continuous nature, i.e. they consist of multiple projects, we have to maintain accuracy not within a single project, but among multiple projects with various subjects, targets, and tones.

When incorporated into our platform, your glossary lists become mandatory checkboxes that need to be filled correctly, every time. Our Translation Memory and proofreaders are there to make sure nothing slips or gets out of the tune.

We understand that for our clients, their websites are their identity. They all have different corporate approaches and personalities that they show in their native language. Some of our clients use MotaWord to localize their blog contents with us like Brut, and others require certain field experience like Trading 212 - both of whom work with us daily.

If you would like us to localize your website with our approach you can get an instant, no-obligation quote, or see our languages. Don’t hesitate to share your mind with us on our social media accounts about the importance of 100% transparent workflow, why proofreading is not a luxury option but a must, or how glossaries are the backbone of any continuous localization project.

About MotaWord

MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock and over 15 thousand professional translators MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

Citations: MarketFinder, Forbes1, Forbes2

15 Upcoming Holidays for Translators and Translation Providers in 2019

Published on Jan 9, 2019

Lately it seems as though there is a day for everything. Are you a Sign Language Interpreter? You can celebrate on Sign Language Interpreter Appreciation Day. Enjoy tongue twisters? There’s a day for that. Always keep track of what language related holidays you need to be celebrating with this comprehensive list for translators:

4th of January — World Braille Day
World Braille Day is annually celebrated on January 4th, the birthday of Braille inventor, Louis Braille. The day recognizes his contributions in helping blind and visually impaired people to read and write.

21st of February — International Mother Language Day
International Mother Language Day is a worldwide annual observance held on 21st of February to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and promote multilingualism.

20th of March — French Language Day
The United Nations has established language days for all of their six official languages. The purpose of the language days is to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to increase awareness and respect for the history, culture and achievements of these languages. The dates for the Language Days were selected for their symbolic or historic significance in connection with each language: 20th of March is International Day of Francophonie.

20th of April — Chinese Language Day
This is the day that the United Nations established to celebrate the cultural and linguistic diversity created by the Chinese language.

23rd of April — English Language Day
This is the day that the United Nations established to celebrate the cultural and linguistic diversity created by the English language. It is also traditionally recognized as William Shakespeare’s birthday.

23rd of April — Spanish Language Day
This is the day that the United Nations established to celebrate the cultural and linguistic diversity created by the Spanish language. It is also characterized by the death of Miguel de Cervantes, a great Spanish writer.

1st of May — Sign Language Interpreter Appreciation Day
On Sign Language Interpreter Appreciation Day, we come together to celebrate the work of sign language interpreters who break down language and communication barriers, from medical appointments to large conferences.

6th of June — Russian Language Day
This is the day that the United Nations established to celebrate the cultural and linguistic diversity created by the Russian language. It is also the birthday of Aleksandr Pushkin, a great Russian poet.

23rd of September — International Day of Sign Languages
The UN General Assembly has proclaimed 23rd of September as the International Day of Sign Languages in order to raise awareness of the importance of sign language in the full realization of the human rights of people who are deaf.

26th of September — European Day of Languages
The European Day of Languages is 26th of September and has been jointly organized by the Council of Europe and the European Union. Its aim is to encourage lifelong language learning across Europe.

30th of September — International Translation Day
International Translation Day is celebrated every year on 30 September on the feast of St. Jerome, the Bible translator who is considered the patron saint of translators. You can see here our article under the Famous Translations series detailing St. Jerome and his accomplishment as a translator.

16th of October — National Dictionary Day
Dictionary Day is held in honor of American lexicographer, Noah Webster. In 1806, he published “A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language” that defined an impressive 37,000 words.

10th of November — International Tongue Twister Day
The history and the origin of International Tongue Twister Day are unknown. Celebrate it by practicing a few challenging tongue twisters or even organize a tongue twister competition with your family, friends or colleagues. You can come across interesting tongue twisters in English on MotaWord’s Instagram page, make sure to follow us there. Here is an example: “Imagine an imaginary menagerie…”

21st of November — World Hello Day
World Hello Day is observed annually on November 21st, to express that conflicts should be resolved through communication. To celebrate, participants verbally greet ten people or more on that day. Why not do it in your native language and have it translated so these strangers can learn something new?

18th of December — Arabic Language Day
This is the day that the United Nations established to celebrate the cultural and linguistic diversity created by the Arabic language. On this day, the United Nations General Assembly designated Arabic as the sixth official language of the United Nations in 1973.

Do you celebrate any other language related holidays? Let us know on social media. Don’t forget to mention @MotaWord, and we'll be sure to check them out.

About MotaWord
MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock and over 15 thousand professional translators MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

Citations: United Nations, Council of Europe, Famous Translators

5 Reasons Why Motaword Team Attends Industry Events (And You Should Too)

Published on Dec 11, 2018

As all of you hopefully know by now, MotaWord is not yet another translation company. It’s primarily an innovation-driven technology company with a laser focus on delivering high-quality translation service to save our clients time and effort. While we have written a lot on localization and why you should have your website content translated into multiple languages, this is not the article for that.

It's impossible for modern companies to thrive without technology and innovation. Identifying and evolving with industry trends and finding new ways to keep our clients 100% satisfied with what we have to offer is what separates successful businesses from the rest - and us from the rest of the myriad translation providers out there.

One of the best ways to expand our industry knowledge and sharpen our innovation practices is by attending technology events and discuss the latest trends with industry leaders and experts in person.

That being said, there are other reasons why we do it also.

The 5 reasons that make us devote our time after work to attend or speak at various industry events are:

Any conference we’re part of is always an unavoidable learning experience where we acquire knowledge and new skills in an engaging and very efficient way. All events we attend are also an excellent way for us to connect with people outside of our immediate social circle and hear their thoughts about technology, innovation, business (and also our translation business as they perceive it) and understand what problems they’re experiencing and how we can potentially help solve those problems.
The learning also expands to the preparation stage for our speeches and discussion pieces for certain events. There is no better motivator to learning that being face to face with sometimes hundreds of people showing up to listen to you talk about how you innovate translation industry or advance the future of work.
Events are also a perfect way to get inspired by a cutting-edge technology (AI or blockchain anyone? ;)) or simply another brilliant business idea you never thought of.
Attending events also helps us to get feedback from our clients or potential clients so we can hear their thoughts and improve our service accordingly.
And last but not least, events are also there to have fun. Yep, you heard it right! We all are human beings and our brains need to get some rest. So it might be a good idea to spend an evening or two in the company of some amazing fellow industry professionals only to get back to work the morning after, well-rested and motivated to push ourselves ahead because we realize that what we do matters.

If you or your teammates didn’t yet have a chance to attend or speak at any events, the best time to start is now. A good industry event brings learning, networking, and fun into one seamless experience — and here is a list of just a few events we’ve attended or spoken at in 2018, all of them are highly recommended if you’re not sure where to start:

Google I/O: Mountain View
Wolves Summit: Warsaw, Poland
Salon Des Entrepreneurs: Paris, France
Droidcon: Dubai, London, Vienna
GDG DevFest: Milan, Nantes, Prague, Jurmala, Dublin, Vienna, London
Google Cloud Next: London
AI Conference: London, New York
TechFest: Bucharest
MobileOptimized: Minsk
Ada's List Conference: London
Google Product Experts Summit: Sunnyvale
Google Developer Experts Summit: Sunnyvale
Android Dev Summit: Mountain View
Codemotion: Milan and many more.

Each of these events was filled with tons of valuable content, new industry connections, and simply endless inspiration. If you ever see us, the MotaWord team, at one of the industry events, don’t be a stranger — come by and say hi. We absolutely love connecting with new people, discussing our translation business and getting to know people on a personal level. That is one of the most amazing outcomes of any event.

Is there any particular industry event that you're looking forward to seeing us at? Let us know on social media (don’t forget to mention us @MotaWord), and we'll be sure to check it out.

About MotaWord

MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock and over 15 thousand professional translators MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

Getting The Most Out Of MotaWord’s Translation Editor

Published on Dec 10, 2018

by Kaan Demirel

Here at MotaWord, we strive to provide the best possible translation and proofreading experience for our translators and proofreaders. We believe in growing our product as a community and for this reason, we’re always listening to your needs.

For collaborative projects, theTranslation Editor is an integral part of MotaWord’s translation process. Our translators and proofreaders spend most of their time in the editor to translate or to proofread various documents on hundreds of different subjects. Whether it is a legal translation or a personal letter, our aim is to provide high quality and professional translation.

If you’re new to the translation editor or just want to learn more about how you can get the most out of the translation editor, here are some tips:

Use search bars:
- There are two search bars in the editor. The first one is located on the header and lets you search for anything within the document and its translations. The second one is located on the suggestions panel and lets you search in previous projects, translation memories, and glossaries.
- Translating highly technical terms can be a little bit tricky. If that’s the case, a quick search for the term can give you a lot of ideas on how to proceed with your translation.
Use filters when necessary:
- Filters can be really helpful, especially in longer documents. Have you ever found yourself navigating between pages to find untranslated segments? Well, if your answer is yes, filters should be your new best friend! To quickly filter out all translated or approved segments, you can click on the filter icon on the editor header and select the option “Untranslated”.
- Before starting to translate, it is a good idea to check automatically translated segments to have an idea on the overall tone of the expected translation. To see segments that were translated automatically using a translation memory, click on the filter icon and select “Machine Translation”.
- You can combine filters with search results as well. Let’s say you want to check other translations of a term for consistency reasons. After searching for the term using the search bar located in the header, you can select the “Translated” filter to see all translated versions of the queried term.
Real-time validation is here to help you:
- Isn’t it nice to have a friend that always has your back and warn you before it’s too late? The real-time validation feature on the editor does exactly that. It constantly checks your translation as you type and warns you in real-time if a potential error is detected in your translation.
- If a panel named “Warnings” appear on the right, you might have a mistake in your translation. As you type, you also might notice the “Save” button color change:
  - If your save button is in green, that means you’re good to go! Your translation passed all validations, congratulations!
  - If your save button is in orange and you see a “Warnings” panel on the right, there might be something wrong with your translation. Check it again. You can refer to the messages in the “Warnings” panel to correct your work if needed.
  - If your save button is in red, there is definitely an error in your translation. You won’t be allowed to save until you fix all the errors.
Always check highlighted terms in the source:
There are three types of highlighted texts in the source panel.
- Tags:
  - i.e.: “Text between tags"
  - Consistent tags are mandatory for you to be able to save your translations. Tags should also appear in the same order as they are in the source.
  - You can click on highlighted tags to automatically copy them into your translation.
- Variables:
  - i.e.: “%variable%”
  - You need to keep variables as-is in your translations. Like tags, click to copy function is available for variables as well.
- Glossary matches:
  - Glossary matches are also highlighted in the source panel. It is recommended to use them in your translations. You can hover on the highlighted term to see its translation.
Don’t forget to save and feel free to use shortcuts:
- When you are done with your translation, don’t forget to save!
- The editor will warn you if you happen to forget saving your work by popping up a red blinking error on the translation panel.
- If you click back on the segment, the warning will go away and you can save your translation.
- Little square icons on the left are there to show the current status of a segment. If you are a translator, grey means untranslated and green means translated. If you are a proofreader, grey means untranslated, blue means translated (waiting to be approved) and green refers to approved segments.
- Remember: You can also use the shortcut “Ctrl+S” to save your translations.

We share these tips with videos on our YouTube page. Subscribing to that page will allow you to receive information on all the newly updated videos.

Good or bad, we love getting feedback from our community! If you have any ideas on improving the translation experience within the editor, feel free to contact us anytime with your suggestions.

About MotaWord

MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock, and over 15 thousand professional translators, MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies.

One Man’s Soul Mountain: Translating Gao Xingjian

Published on Nov 9, 2018

Gao Xingjian
Born January 4, 1940

“The human need for language is not simply for the transmission of meaning, it is at the same time listening to and affirming a person's existence.” - Gao Xingjian

Gao Xingjian is a Chinese French national who won the Nobel Laureate in Literature in 2000, the first time the award had been given for work written almost entirely in Chinese. A novelist, playwright, critic, professional translator, screenwriter, stage director, and painter, Xingjian is a true renaissance man. Although his work is less celebrated in China, Xingjian is highly regarded in the Americas and Europe. Earning a degree in French literature in Beijing and settling in Paris in 1987, Gao Xingjian’s plays and translations have since set the trend for experimental drama in China and the West. Two of his translators, Gilbert C. F. Fong and Dr. Mabel Lee, are showcased as Xingjian’s close friends and esteemed colleagues.

Receiving his basic education in schools of the People’s Republic of China, Xingjian grew up in the aftermath of the Japanese invasion. His mother was an aspiring actress who took great joy in stimulating Gao’s interest in theatre and writing. He wrote his whole life, creating countless manuscripts which he kept in a suitcase. During the cultural revolution (1966-76) Xingjian was sent to a re-education camp, where he is said to have burned that suitcase. He was able to travel to France and Italy in 1979, when he was finally able to publish his work.
During the years of 1980-87, Xingjian published short stories, essays, and dramas in various literary magazines throughout China. He was able to publish four books in French: Premier essai sur les techniques du roman moderne/A Preliminary Discussion of the Art of Modern Fiction (1981), which incited violent written attacks on the author, A Pigeon Called Red Beak (1985), Collected Plays (1985), and In Search of a Modern Form of Dramatic Representation (1987).
Xingjian wrote arguably one of his most famous novels, Soul Mountain (1990), based on a journey through the mountains and forests of southwest China. Pioneering Western interest in Chinese literature in translation, Soul Mountain gained the attention of The New York Times, who called the book “remarkable”, and is said to have been the catalyst that pushed him toward winning his Nobel Laureate 10 years later. On Xingjian, the Nobel Prize Committee said, “In the writing of Gao Xingjian, literature is born anew from the struggle of the individual to survive the history of the masses."
Originally written in Chinese, Soul Mountain needed a translator into English. Born in New South Wales, Dr. Mabel Lee grew up bilingual in Cantonese and English, with a growing interest in Chinese cultural affairs. Her translation of Soul Mountain took her seven years, then an additional two years after that to find an adequate publisher. Just three months after she published her translation, Dr. Lee found herself with Gao Xingjian at the center of International literary recognition when Xingjian won the Nobel Laureate. Today, Dr. Lee works as a Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Sydney in Australia, is the founder of Wile Peony Book Publishers, and is one of the leading authorities on Chinese literature and translation.
Where Dr. Mabel Lee translated Xingjian’s novels, Gilbert C. Fong translated his plays. Also a professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Fong specializes in Gao Xingjian, translated drama, and Hong Kong movie and television subtitling.

Gao Xingjian moved to France to seek political asylum and was granted citizenship in 1998. "After I went to France, I finally had an environment where I could work freely," he said. "So you could say I worked extremely hard, but I was very happy."

Gao Xingjian in numbers:

The decade during which Xingjian stayed in Anhui Province doing farm labor and teaching Chinese at Gankou Middle School during the Down to the Countryside Movement. In 1975 he was allowed to move back to Beijing where he became the group leader of French translation for “China Reconstructs” magazine (《中國建設》).

The number of politically charged plays that are argued to have openly criticized the Chinese government and contributed to his absurdist drama acclaim. Titles include Signal Alarm (《絕對信號》, 1982), Bus Stop (《車站》, 1983), The Primitive (1985), and The Other Shore (《彼岸》, 1986).

Five years after being granted asylum in Paris during a visit to Europe in 1987, Xingjian was made Chevalier de l'Ordere des Arts et des Lettres de la France.

Number of pages in Xingjian’s novel Soul Mountain; a fictional autobiography exploring Xingjian’s boyhood and relationships with women. The protagonists in the novel are named with the pronouns "I," "you," "he," and "she", and explore the interconnectedness of each others’ identity.

For a New York Times interview with Xingjian, click here.
For an interview with one of Xingjian’s translators of Soul Mountain, Mabel Lee, click here.
For the Asia Society’s interview with Gao Xingjian, as interpreted from Chinese by Daniel Fertig, click here.

About MotaWord

MotaWord is the world’s fastest professional translation platform. Through the use of cloud technologies, smart algorithms that manage projects around the clock, and over 15 thousand professional translators, MotaWord provides high-quality translations in any language 60% cheaper and 20 times faster than traditional translation agencies. If you are a professional translator and would like to work with MotaWord please register using this link.

About This Article
Famous Translators is a MotaWord segment showcasing notable professional translated works and famous linguists from history to the present. We are researching, compiling and sharing stories that matter to every translator on our blog. You, too can be published right here on the MotaWord blog site - just contact kali@motaword.com.

Check out our previous "Famous Translators" articles:

Ensuring Accurate Translations With MotaWord

Published on Nov 9, 2018