William Shakespeare - the multilingual bard
posted Tue, 2012-05-15 14:01 by
Katharina Haberstock looks at a festival of theatre breaking down cultural and linguistic boundaries.
For the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad celebrations, the Globe Theatre is staging an extraordinary event. They're presenting the Globe to Globe Festival, in which all of Shakespeare’s 37 plays are performed - in 37 different languages. It’s part of the celebrations honouring the national poet’s 448th birthday.
Next stop... Nuremberg!
posted Thu, 2012-05-10 11:24 by
We’re delighted to announce we’ve opened our newest office in Nuremberg, Germany. Alexander Grellmann will be leading our team, using his extensive accounts experience to offer the best German translation services to this important market.
He’ll be focusing on the DACH countries – Germany (Deutschland), Austria and Switzerland (Confoederatio Helvetica). These are some of our biggest markets, and he’ll be able to provide a much more personal service to existing and new customers.
Kitto katsu! Global marketing and local tastes
posted Tue, 2012-05-08 12:32 by
It might be a good excuse to “have a break”, but the humble Kit Kat is hardly the world’s most exciting chocolate biscuit. This all changes if you’re in Japan. The snack is available in a bewildering assortment of flavours from soy sauce to baked potato with butter.
tags: global marketing, kit kat, Localisation
How do I become a multilingual translator?
posted Fri, 2012-05-04 12:17 by
Writer Katharina Haberstock asks what skills a successful translator needs.
Some people think translating is as simple as replacing one word by another. But that’s a very one-sided view. In fact, there’s much more to being a successful multilingual translator.
What does Google Translate mean for international language services?
posted Mon, 2012-04-30 15:59 by
On Google Translate's sixth birthday this month, its developers had plenty of reasons to celebrate. Two hundred million in fact: that’s the number of people who use its free international language services each month.
“In a given day we translate roughly as much text as you'd find in one million books,” Google Translate engineer Franz Och wrote in a blog post. It’s roughly the same amount all human translators produce in a year.
tags: Google Translate, international language services, machine translation
The art of technical writing
posted Fri, 2012-04-27 14:25 by
Many of us have ripped open the packaging, pulled out the shiny new mobile phone or laptop, and started using it right away. It’s only when we hit a metaphorical brick wall that we turn to the user manual – or try to find instructions online.
The language of Twitter
posted Wed, 2012-04-25 15:27 by
The Twitterverse used to be a fairly monolingual place. Just three years ago, you could safely get by in English, with two thirds of tweets in the language. But this has fallen to only 39 per cent, according to the latest Semiocast study.
Learning the right lingo can boost international exports
posted Fri, 2012-04-20 11:16 by
It’s a familiar complaint – British schoolchildren just aren’t studying foreign languages any more. We regularly read more dismal news about falling numbers taking French or German A-levels, and universities closing departments.
But does it really matter in a world where English is the lingua franca? According to the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), it does. The UK could be falling behind on international exports due to a lack of language skills.
Countdown to InfoSecurity Europe 2012
posted Tue, 2012-04-17 15:00 by
The clock’s ticking down to one of the year’s biggest IT and security events in London. For those who don’t know, InfoSecurity Europe is a huge global meeting place, where exhibitors show off some of their newest and most exciting technologies. And of course, Lingo24 will be there next week!
A snapshot of the global language services market
posted Fri, 2012-04-13 16:03 by
You might not be surprised to know that demand for global language services is growing. More of the world’s population are getting online, making the web a much more multilingual place. And the economic slowdown in Europe and North America has led more companies to target emerging markets.
tags: global language services
What McDonald’s can show us about global internet marketing
posted Tue, 2012-04-10 14:01 by
Like Coca-Cola and Google, the words Big Mac are recognisable in much of the world. The fast food giant is often held up as a symbol of globalisation and the spread of Western culture. But the brand’s marketing isn’t as homogenous as you might think.
Love it or hate it, the company’s advertising and websites are good examples of how to localise messages for different parts of the world.
How many languages can you speak?
posted Wed, 2012-04-04 09:53 by
Did you know two-thirds of the world’s children are raised as bilingual speakers? Or that 832 languages are spoken in Papua New Guinea?
This week, 14-year-old Bruce Baillie-Hamilton from Fife, who speaks seven languages fluently, was named Britain’s most multilingual teenager. He says he chose to learn “difficult” languages such as Russian and Mandarin, as he wanted a new challenge.
tags: how many languages can you speak, multilingual translator
The Swiss solution – local internet marketing by country and language
posted Mon, 2012-04-02 09:36 by
The best things in life come in threes, according to the ancient Chinese philosopher Mencius. And we like to think the same is true of our Swiss websites!
We’ve just launched sites in Swiss-German, French, and Italian for this multilingual country. Although there are four official languages, these three cover more than 90 per cent of the population.
tags: local internet marketing, swiss french, swiss german translation, swiss italian
How tea and biscuits are fuelling a £12bn export boom
posted Tue, 2012-03-27 14:53 by
Can you say Jammie Dodger in Chinese? Or do you know how Russians like a cup of tea?
Brands such as Wagon Wheels and Typhoo tea may seem as British as a bright red phone box. But they’re gaining fans around the world, helping push UK food exports past a record £12bn.
tags: Export, global marketing
Go Global 2012: An introduction to... international online marketing
posted Fri, 2012-03-23 16:54 by
What’s the best way to reach millions of new customers around the world? Lingo24’s Senior Account Director Mario de Bortoli-Jones shared some secrets in the first of a series of Go Global workshops in London.
Organised by Enterprise Nation, the talks are aimed at small or medium-sized businesses thinking about exporting. Mario aimed to demystify international online marketing, and show how it can be simpler (and more cost-effective!) than many people think.
For those of you who couldn’t make it, do watch a video of the event here:
tags: Foreign Language Internet, international online marketing
It's good to chat
posted Wed, 2012-03-21 17:06 by
We love to talk here at Lingo24, no matter the language! And now we’ve made it easier than ever to get in touch, with our new live chat feature.
Just drop us a line on our website, and we have friendly Lingo-ists available 24 hours a day. We’ve just introduced it on our UK, US, and South African sites and we’ll soon be putting it on more of our websites around the world.
tags: communication, customer service, live chat
When global translation goes wrong
posted Tue, 2012-03-20 12:10 by
For years, English-speaking visitors to Beijing could enjoy taking their chances with dishes such as Wood Moustache Meat or Red Burned Lion Head. But now the city's government is making dining out a little more boring, by producing an official book of translated dishes. They’ve translated 3000 traditional food items into English to reduce confusion.
How international internet businesses can monitor their global reputation
posted Thu, 2012-03-15 13:34 by
The great thing about web marketing is you can get people all over the world talking about your brand. But this can also be a problem – if you’re not sure what they’re saying!
From embarrassing Facebook photos to scathing customer reviews, there’s plenty of content we’d rather the world didn’t see! Keeping track of your reputation online is important, whether you’re a professional looking for a new job, or an international internet business expanding into new markets.
tags: global reputation monitoring, international internet business
What's your favourite word?
posted Fri, 2012-03-09 12:02 by
They’re the building blocks of language, and are constantly being invented in every living language. Last year, around 400 new words were added to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. And that’s not to count old words that take on new meanings, such as "follower" and "tweet".
Here at Lingo24, we're a little bit geeky about languages! We love finding new and unusual words, including ones that can be tricky to translate. If all languages had exact literal equivalents for words, then translation might be easier, but it’d be a lot more boring.
tags: favourite word, languages, Translation
Why mobile should be part of your global web marketing strategy in 2012
posted Mon, 2012-03-05 16:23 by
Whether you’re in London or Lahore, it’s hard to avoid people tapping away on their mobile phones. It’s estimated that a staggering 87 per cent of the world’s population now has a mobile device. And this year, sales of smartphones are expected to overtake PCs for the first time.
