Posts Tagged ‘italian’
International symbol, icon blunders can be avoided
Some of my European colleagues still remember when the old Macintosh operating system of the 1980s used a trash icon that Apple’s European users confused for a postal box. Why was the icon confusing? People across the globe have different cultural ideas and assumptions about what things are supposed to look like. In other countries, trash cans [...]
Food lost in translation: How authentic is that international cuisine?
Thirteen years ago, during my first month in Chile, an American friend decided to give my palette a rest from unfamiliar food and took me to a pizzeria. The proprietor was very friendly and allowed us to help assemble our own pie. Though I can not recall what toppings we chose, I definitely remember one interesting item we spotted on the menu: [...]
Language Use by Region
What are the top 10 languages by population in New York and other states? Where are the most Armenian speakers living in the United States? The U.S. Census used to track and report the number of language speakers for virtually every language in every state and county. This data was very useful for companies planning localized multilingual [...]
Language and Country Codes
Many multilingual websites are organized using subdomains and subdirectories based on language codes or country codes. These are usually ISO codes. See the following example that Google gave for a French website in Canada using the alpha-2 code for the French language: French language code subdirectory: www.example.ca/fr French language code [...]
Language and Country Names List
English speakers expect that a link to an English language/country option on a website will be listed in English, not translated into another language. Otherwise, how easily would an English speaker find a link to English content if the language name were written in Asian, Cyrillic, or Middle Eastern characters? Or how easy would it be if the [...]
Motorcycle Translation Bloopers
A small scandal-that-never-really-was erupted when motorcycle racer Nicky Hayden's remarks were mistranslated last week. Hayden had commented that "it is a shame" (meaning "it is a pity") fellow racer Casey Stoner is leaving the Ducati team for the Honda team in 2011. However, his words were translated into Italian and then back into English as [...]
Microsoft Language Portal Update Includes Office 2010 International Terminology
The Microsoft Language Portal has recently been updated to include International Terminology from Office 2010 in 90 languages. As mentioned previously, Microsoft has produced great free resources for download and/or search that include all of its style guides and glossaries, which can double as translation memory.
Text Expansion & Contraction in Translation
Letter-for-letter translation appears on kids' cereal boxes, but not in real life. In real life, the word count, character count, length, and sometimes even the height of translated text will differ from the source text. Proper preparation can prevent potential problems with expansion. This preparation can include dynamically resizable [...]
Download Translation Memory
As mentioned in previous tips, three tools that help a company maintain translation consistency at different levels include glossaries, style guides, and translation memory. Glossaries help maintain consistency at the term level, translation memories help maintain consistency at the sentence level, and style guides help fill in the gaps by [...]
Business Card Translation Success | 4 Elements to Get Right
Business cards may seem small and uncomplicated, but here are a few things you should know about business cards that appear in other languages. Using these tips will help business go smoothly when working with international clients. Know that size, nontranslation of certain elements, and even the way you present your business card are different [...]
