Too often, professionals think that a "googled translation" of their website is enough to convey their message. Imagine if your message is translated like some of the attached examples from the NY Times - this message is now a bad reflection on your brand, company, and image. This will result in reduced sales and added expense in trying to win back those clients and customers you just alienated!
Bottom line - a professionally translated website will open doors for you. Step away from an "easy" fix and do not post an inferior translation!
Putting Google to the Test in Translation - Graphic - NYTimes.com
Come explore the world of non-profits with me.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Sun, Warmth, Florida
Next week I will be in Orlando, Florida for PittCon. Pittcon is the world’s annual premier Conference and Exposition on laboratory science. It is organized by The Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy, a Pennsylvania not-for-profit educational corporation.
I am excited to meet these professionals from all over the world and learn more about their work, their culture, and their language concerns. Isn't is always exciting and exotic to meet new people? I always wonder what their lives are like where they live - is it more exciting, harder, is the food more delicious, are their lives an adventure to me?
I will wrtie more details about this event while there and hopefully share some of the interesting moments I have there. At least, let's hope they are interesting!
I am excited to meet these professionals from all over the world and learn more about their work, their culture, and their language concerns. Isn't is always exciting and exotic to meet new people? I always wonder what their lives are like where they live - is it more exciting, harder, is the food more delicious, are their lives an adventure to me?
I will wrtie more details about this event while there and hopefully share some of the interesting moments I have there. At least, let's hope they are interesting!
Monday, February 15, 2010
G-20 in Pittsburgh Is Still Opening Doors
Translations for the G-20
Pittsburgh, PA was honored to be a part of the G-20 Summit held here September 24th and 25th, 2009. Attendees from around the world came to communicate with each other about pressing global economic issues. I helped work with The Allegheny Conference and the Pittsburgh G-20 Partnership, a non-profit organization endeavoring to expand Pittsburgh’s business footprint globally. “WWithout our partners it would be impossible to provide a clean, green and welcoming setting for the Pittsburgh Summit 2009” says Bill Flanagan, President of the G-20Partnership.
There were translated welcome signs and introduction letters that provided detailed information about the Pittsburgh region and efforts the Allegheny Conference made to make Pittsburgh a friendly city. The languages ranged from English into Arabic, Spanish for Latin America and Mexico, Turkish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, French for Canada and France, Italian, Korean, German, Japanese, Indonesian and Portuguese for Brazil.
Welcome signs were displayed through-out Pittsburgh from corporate buildings such as Bayer to billboards and signs on every street. These signs greeted attendees in 14 languages. In offering so many languages, The Allegheny Conference needed to be politically correct. Originally, traditional Chinese was requested, based on what is used here. However, by investigating the regions and languages of those attending; simplified Chinese was chosen to better communicate with the representatives from the People’s Republic of China. Many Pittsburghers were generally unaware of this language difference. They were pleased to learn how to appropriately communicate politically and culturally. The visiting countries were well prepared and the many delegates brought interpreters with them, which helped with both oral and written communication. Many local hotels and establishments anticipated the need for translation of their services such as menus, but found the need for translations was not as great as expected since so many representatives brought their own staff, cooks and linguistic teams with them.
The G-20 has brought more international interest to our region. Pittsburgh was selected by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as the host city for World Environment Day 2010 in North America. The world’s interest in our region is due to three primary industries creating jobs and opportunities for many in Pittsburgh and around the world:
• Health Care and Life Sciences – Pittsburgh’s health services sector has almost tripled in size since 1979, creating more than 100,000 jobs and building on a legacy of biomedical innovation to create a robust industry network that is cultivating life-saving technologies and advances in medical devices, regenerative medicine and pharmaceuticals. UPMC has grown into the region’s largest employer and an $8 billion global health enterprise.
• Education and Research – With two Tier-One research institutions – Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh – among our region’s 35 colleges and universities, and with 100 corporate research and development centers, Pittsburgh has more than 70,000 workers engaged in research and development
• Information and Communications Technology – The Pittsburgh region is home to about 1,600 technology firms including Ansys, Apple, Black Box, Google, Intel and Mastech, employing 32,000 people. These companies benefit from a tech-savvy talent pipeline and the support of organizations that nurture the region’s growing knowledge-based economy.
The visit to Pittsburgh by delegates from around the world has also led to more interest in global communication for our local professionals. Meetings with G-20 delegates created avenues for global commerce; companies realized the global market can be easily reached and are now translating marketing materials and websites. Clients are asking for transcreation of documents (transcreation is the adaptation of copy and design to make it fit for any market anywhere in the world).
Pittsburgh, PA was honored to be a part of the G-20 Summit held here September 24th and 25th, 2009. Attendees from around the world came to communicate with each other about pressing global economic issues. I helped work with The Allegheny Conference and the Pittsburgh G-20 Partnership, a non-profit organization endeavoring to expand Pittsburgh’s business footprint globally. “WWithout our partners it would be impossible to provide a clean, green and welcoming setting for the Pittsburgh Summit 2009” says Bill Flanagan, President of the G-20Partnership.
There were translated welcome signs and introduction letters that provided detailed information about the Pittsburgh region and efforts the Allegheny Conference made to make Pittsburgh a friendly city. The languages ranged from English into Arabic, Spanish for Latin America and Mexico, Turkish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, French for Canada and France, Italian, Korean, German, Japanese, Indonesian and Portuguese for Brazil.
Welcome signs were displayed through-out Pittsburgh from corporate buildings such as Bayer to billboards and signs on every street. These signs greeted attendees in 14 languages. In offering so many languages, The Allegheny Conference needed to be politically correct. Originally, traditional Chinese was requested, based on what is used here. However, by investigating the regions and languages of those attending; simplified Chinese was chosen to better communicate with the representatives from the People’s Republic of China. Many Pittsburghers were generally unaware of this language difference. They were pleased to learn how to appropriately communicate politically and culturally. The visiting countries were well prepared and the many delegates brought interpreters with them, which helped with both oral and written communication. Many local hotels and establishments anticipated the need for translation of their services such as menus, but found the need for translations was not as great as expected since so many representatives brought their own staff, cooks and linguistic teams with them.
The G-20 has brought more international interest to our region. Pittsburgh was selected by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as the host city for World Environment Day 2010 in North America. The world’s interest in our region is due to three primary industries creating jobs and opportunities for many in Pittsburgh and around the world:
• Health Care and Life Sciences – Pittsburgh’s health services sector has almost tripled in size since 1979, creating more than 100,000 jobs and building on a legacy of biomedical innovation to create a robust industry network that is cultivating life-saving technologies and advances in medical devices, regenerative medicine and pharmaceuticals. UPMC has grown into the region’s largest employer and an $8 billion global health enterprise.
• Education and Research – With two Tier-One research institutions – Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh – among our region’s 35 colleges and universities, and with 100 corporate research and development centers, Pittsburgh has more than 70,000 workers engaged in research and development
• Information and Communications Technology – The Pittsburgh region is home to about 1,600 technology firms including Ansys, Apple, Black Box, Google, Intel and Mastech, employing 32,000 people. These companies benefit from a tech-savvy talent pipeline and the support of organizations that nurture the region’s growing knowledge-based economy.
The visit to Pittsburgh by delegates from around the world has also led to more interest in global communication for our local professionals. Meetings with G-20 delegates created avenues for global commerce; companies realized the global market can be easily reached and are now translating marketing materials and websites. Clients are asking for transcreation of documents (transcreation is the adaptation of copy and design to make it fit for any market anywhere in the world).
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Domain Names and IP's can now be in non-latin characters
Facebook | Linda Richardson: "What does this mean? Over 1/2 of internet users do not use Latin characters. They can now access local sites in their own language, use their native language keyboards. Children can use their keyboards to research and communicate in their own languages whether Chinese, Greek, Russian, or Arabic... Now emails can be created in non-Latin characters, enabling people to communicate around the world, truly globalizing, more accessibility for all to the internet and world."
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Nov 25 International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
In light of the recent violence in Richmond, CA against a 14 year old girl we all need to stop and think about what our society is communicating to our young men.
In 1999, the UN General Assembly designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime - with the abuser usually someone known to her.
Women's activists have marked 25 November as a day against violence since 1981. The date commemorates the brutal assassination of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic, in 1960 on orders of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961).
Governments, international organizations and NGOs are invited to organize activities on the day to raise public awareness of the problem. The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women also launches the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence, which runs through 10 December, Human Rights Day.
Let's all celebrate the peace and love we should have for each other regardless of race, gender, and any other differences in each.
In 1999, the UN General Assembly designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime - with the abuser usually someone known to her.
Women's activists have marked 25 November as a day against violence since 1981. The date commemorates the brutal assassination of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic, in 1960 on orders of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961).
Governments, international organizations and NGOs are invited to organize activities on the day to raise public awareness of the problem. The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women also launches the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence, which runs through 10 December, Human Rights Day.
Let's all celebrate the peace and love we should have for each other regardless of race, gender, and any other differences in each.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
multilingual communications a must
What great information for all to realize. Communication is vital for everyone and a right. Look at what is happening to ESL citizens in our hospitals. We should all be outraged by this stat. Check out the link for more information, click HERE.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
My first BLOG
Welcome to the beginning of musings and meandering down the path of communication! I look forward to discussing happenings in my business life. I will be talking about who what why and where you want to communicate and the best way to not put your foot in your mouth! An accurate translation can help you reach out to regions around the world but a bad translation will have people around the world not understanding or even worse insulted by poorly communicated information which you will not even realize is out there, perhaps for years!
Bon Jour!
Linda
Bon Jour!
Linda
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