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How’s your Anglophone reception?
Hollywood raises the bar on ethnic authenticity
Culture is a minefield. Tread carefully.
Five words that should be imported into English
The blogosphere across different hemispheres
What’s the meaning of green in Greenland?
Lost in Translation: Strange signs from abroad
When your translator is truly checked out…
Beware of Slippy: For Shanghai, Chinglish is no laughing matter
Lost in Translation: Verizon Wireless
How well do you know your target market?
Is Twitter ready to go global?
In India, Microsoft and Google go local in a big way
It’s Miller Time in North Korea
Global road warriors: learn to fit it all in one bag
In China: All atwitter about microblogging
Does Crowdsourcing have a Place in the Translation Industry?
The Era of Open Standards is here
Translation Tools Without Borders
Content Convergence: Come Together Write Now
Beijing’s Olympic Task: Serving Up Gold-Medal English
The blogosphere across different hemispheres
By Prisma News
Category:
For those of you seeking out authentic, first-hand information about other countries and cultures, there’s a hidden gem you should know about. It’s called Global Voices and it’s a great way to find out what bloggers themselves are saying about the countries and cultures they live in.
Employing a “staff” of some 300 volunteers, Global Voices gathers, curates and translates blog posts from around the world. Luckily for those of us who have English as our primary language, thousands of blog posts and blog excerpts are translated into English. But the site also offers content in 17 languages, with 12 more languages on the way. The site lets you find what interests you by searching on specific subjects. You can also browse by countries, topics and contributors.
A good part of the content on Global Voices is political in nature, which is not surprising, as bloggers tend to be at the forefront of political movements of all stripes. However, there is also plenty of content on other subjects, inlcuding business, law, media and technology.
What’s the meaning of green in Greenland?
By Prisma News
Category:
Although it’s tempting to regard localization as a mostly linguistic endeavor, the fact is, visual symbols, such as colors*, can hold powerful cultural meaning. And those meanings can vary significantly from one culture to the next.
Colours in Cultures, by Information is Beautiful
We can’t vouch for the full accuracy of this chart, but it’s a brilliant attempt by the blog Information is Beautiful to demonstrate the range of meanings that different colors can have around the world. Consider this chart the next time you attempt to localize a communications piece simply by swapping out the text!
*(Not to mention images, graphic design and other visual modes of communication – but more on those some other time.)
Lost in Translation: Strange signs from abroad
By Prisma News
Category:
A slide show accompanying a recent New York Times piece on story on Shanghai’s efforts to curtail Chinglish (see our coverage) was so popular, the paper followed up with a gallery of reader-submitted pictures of failed efforts at cross-cultural communications:
New York Times: Strange Signs From Abroad
In case this is your cup of tea, we found a group on the popular photo site Flickr called “The Best of Engrish.” We also used the photo search site Compfight to assemble a gallery of Flickr photos tagged “Chinglish”
And with that, we’re officially done picking on the Chinese and other well-intentioned host countries who try to accommodate English-speaking visitors. To show that we lampoon all kinds, we’ll be on the lookout for examples of poor translations here in North America. Fair’s fair, right?