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Speaking of Language
Our team has a lot to say on the subject of language, along with the people, processes and technologies that surround it. Our thoughts are collected here, with frequent additions to keep the conversation fresh. Check back often for new posts, and Contact Us with any questions or topic ideas. Posts are displayed by date with the most recent first. To narrow down by topic, please use the categories to the right.
It’s December and high school students across Ohio are taking “end-of-course exams.” These exams are one of the ways students can earn the “graduation points” they need to graduate with a high school diploma.[1] Standardized testing is a major part of the American education system. In a prior blog, our Director of Localization Solutions, Mohamed Hassan, related the story of moving his family from Cairo, Egypt to Ohio and his sons’ struggles learning and testing
Thanksgiving is over and much of the world is getting ready to celebrate a full holiday season … Christmas, Hanukkah, Mawlid el-Nabi, Las Posadas, Kwanzaa, Omisoka, Yule, and more! We thought we’d start the celebration off with a little play on a classic holiday tune by presenting the Twelve Terms of Translation! ♪ The first term of Translation, I bet you cannot guess … Translation itself is the best! ♪ Translation: Translation is transforming text from
Americans celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November every year. Thanksgiving is rooted in the historic cooperation between the Pilgrims who settled at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts and the local residents, the Wampanoag tribe. History tells us that the Wampanoag helped the settlers survive their first winter when the food they brought from England ran out. The tribe taught the Pilgrims to fish and farm, hunt and gather, and, in general, deal with the
A Win-Win: Engage Your Multilingual Workforce and Manage Risk
Category: Compliance, Interpreting, Translation/Localization
In our last blog, we discussed a recent court decision that found an employer’s anti-harassment workplace policy was “defective or dysfunctional” because a Spanish-speaking foreman (aka, a supervisor) could not read or understand it. This decision begs the question: “does this even apply to me/my company?” Because most workplaces do have employees with English-language challenges, it’s important to consider how to engage your multilingual workforce while at the same time managing risk. Pop Quiz! Especially
Court Finds Untranslated Employment Policy “Defective or Dysfunctional”
Category: Compliance, Translation/Localization
In the era of #MeToo, employers must carefully craft and enforce policies prohibiting sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace. It’s not only the right thing to do, but it’s also a primary mechanism for defending sexual harassment lawsuits. Defending Sexual Harassment Claims One way to defend a sexual harassment lawsuit is what’s known as the “Faragher/Ellerth defense.” Using this defense, an employer can avoid liability if it proves two things: It exercised reasonable care
When entering a new market, businesses must analyze the macro-economic factors that will affect strategic planning and success. This is true whether the business is partnering with a company to accelerate growth, venturing across town, across the country, or across the world. A popular tool to help business leaders analyze the external factors that will shape their market entry is the PEST Analysis (or PESTLE Analysis). PEST Analysis PEST or PESTLE pushes business leaders to
Multilingual Means Better Business for Pharmacies
Category: Technology/Innovation, Translation/Localization
The Internet is, perhaps, the most powerful tool in the world. It even has the power to get people to take their prescription medications! For pharmacies, ensuring “patient adherence” with prescription medications means better business. What is Patient Adherence? The concept of getting people to “do what the doctor ordered,” whether it’s physical therapy, or getting surgery, or taking prescription medications, is called “patient adherence.” Lack of patient adherence is incredibly costly: 125,000 deaths per
When you’re thinking about translating content, one rule applies: garbage in, garbage out (GIGO). The phrase is originally from computer science, and it means that the output you receive is equivalent to the original input. What does this have to do with translation? It’s easy. If you don’t have quality content at the start of the translation process, the final product won’t miraculously turn into a masterpiece at the end. That’s why it’s essential to
Google Translate is a pretty amazing, free tool. But when it comes to really important things – like the fundamental right and privilege of American citizens to vote in public elections – organizations should remember this very basic rule: you get what you pay for. Election Drainage Election officials in Bexar County, Texas are facing heat from the American Civil Liberties Union after it advertised an “Escurrimiento Elección” on its website. An “Escurrimiento Elección,” according
Earlier this year, my colleague, Ahmed Kamal, blogged about a translation mistake that went undiscovered for thirty years and ultimately cost a country hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary construction work. That blog went on to discuss the importance of accuracy in technical translation, especially with things like units of measurement, specialized terminology, and instructions. Another Costly Error Recently, I read about a similar technical translation error that went undiscovered for a year …
In our last blog, Vocalink Global’s own Mohamed Hassan related the lessons he’s learned from his sons as they acclimated to American schools while working on their English language skills. This week, we are pleased to provide a student’s view on the subject of language barriers for ESL students with a guest blog by Lily Geiser, Staff Writer for The Chronicle, Mason High School’s student-produced newspaper. Multilingual Students Experience Language Barrier in ESL Classes by
The Struggle to Understand: How English Affects the Learning of Immigrant Students
Category: Compliance, Interpreting, Translation/Localization
In August of 2017, I moved my family from Cairo, Egypt to the Dayton, Ohio area … just in time for my three children to start school! I am a long-time translation and localization professional, working primarily in English. My wife similarly worked in the translation and localization industry and is very proficient in English. We did our best to teach our children English, though their opportunities to practice were limited in our Arabic-speaking community.
