Lingo24 Company Blog

Coming as we have, to the successful conclusion of the spectacularly staged XXIX Olympiad, one might be mistaken for thinking that the inherent Olympic message of ‘one world one vision’ and its implied message of the unity of all nations through the ennobling quality of sport would now permeate the world. It seems though, that permeate though it might, the spirit of the Olympic message has fallen upon deaf ears at the LPGA (the largest worldwide association of professional women golfers), where new rules mean that ‘foreigners need not apply’.

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Yiddish, as many will be aware, is a non territory specific High German language that originated in the Rhineland Ashkenazi culture from about the 10th century onwards. Over the course of time, Yiddish spread outwards over Central and Eastern Europe and eventually to the New World.

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“There’s Gold in them there hills.”

Well…very nearly; but if you happen to be a translator, then it’s probably the very next best thing to another California Gold Rush. Starting from 1st Jan next year, under the direction of newly passed legislation, all Health Plans covering the State of California will be required to cover the provision of written or verbal language assistance for any member in need of it, ‘in whatever language or form it is necessary’. As you can imagine, in a State that is as large and as ethnically diverse as California, this amounts to ‘good times ahead’ for all translators who can get in on the action.

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As the old saying goes, “there are only two certainties in this world; Taxes and Death”.

Now whilst this may be somewhat pessimistic, albeit true, there is also one other certainty; that times move onwards and this is highlighted perfectly by two new technological offerings for international travellers. Both Alta Vista and Paragon Software Group have just announced their latest respective releases; a Language Translation Utility and Multilingual Dictionary for the ever increasingly ubiquitous iPhone and iPod Touch.

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Unless a competent or qualified translator has been available, until now, being able to see a GP has been somewhat of an ordeal for many deaf people and all but impossible for some. The problem is that there are only around 400 fully qualified interpreters of British Sign Language (BSL) in England to deal with the needs of approximately 70,000 registered deaf people whose primary language of communication is BSL. Often, family members fulfil the role of interpreter when a qualified person is not easily available; however, this is often disruptive for the accompanying relative.

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News stories featuring scenarios where there is some hold up in, or some pending miscarriage of justice due to the lack of suitable interpreters, seem to be all too common these days: in fact, although not strictly justice related, the recent case of several deaf students from Concord, Massachusetts, who were forced to relocate to new schools some distance away because their current schools were unable to locate sign language interpreters, highlights this general theme perfectly.

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According to recent reports from the EU, the standard of British translators who apply for European Union translating positions is generally so poor that they have been forced to look elsewhere; notably to linguists from Greece and Spain in order to combat the dearth of home grown talent.

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Maybe it would have been more appropriate to entitle this blog “Microsoft marches onwards toward world domination”, for with news of the release of Microsoft’s live translation tool and it’s incorporation as a standard utility within Microsoft Office, there can surely be nothing that Microsoft cannot or does not eventually wish to take up and incorporate into its ubiquitous operating system and programs.

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As linguists we all know that languages change over time and adapt themselves to modern requirements; and so it is with the Hungarian language. Linguists of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences are about to implement changes to the rules of Hungarian spelling; rules that were last changed in 1984.

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A study recently carried out in the Indian City of Chandigarh (the joint Capital of the States of Punjab and Haryana), has uncovered what seems to be a rapid and worrying decline in the demand for books in both the Punjabi and Hindi languages in the City and its environs.

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