This is not an Apple TV topic, but I'm hoping there may some help in this forum. I don't know if this is even technologically possible yet. I have a TV setup with a recent Sony smart TV connected by HDMI to a 2018 Mac Mini running Mojave. I would like to watch more Spanish programming, but don't know enough of the language to follow dialogs. It's Over-The-Air (OTA) broadcasts with Spanish subtitles, but no English subtitles. I record them on the Mini with an EyeTV tuner and software and watch later.
So, does anyone know of any options to either translate the embedded Spanish subtitles to English, which could be an off-line task, or translate the audio directly to English in near real-time? There are numerous "translators" on Amazon, most targeted at conversational uses while on travel, etc. There are some BlueTooth earphones or headphones that claim translation ability (search "real-time bluetooth language translator"). Most such devices barely reach 3 or 4 out of 5 ratings. Does anyone have experience or suggestions on what to look for?
My wife, who is bilingual, says I should learn more Spanish, but that is the more difficult route, IMO!
It’s become cliché to tell graduate students and Ph.D.s leaving higher ed to translate their academic experiences into terms business and industry employers will understand. That is often is presented as the first step of converting an academic CV into a résumé.
Such advice is sound. However, few people who give it appreciate the monumental challenge this translation presents many graduate students and Ph.D.s, particularly those who have spent most of their adulthoods thus far cocooned in the academic cult and who may never have written a nonacademic résumé in their lives.
To translate is to overcome a language barrier. Academics are advised to translate from their native tongue—“academese,” let’s call it—to the language of the land to which they seek admittance, or “businessese.”
But how can one translate into a language they’ve never spoken, originating from a land they’ve rarely if ever visited? How can one speak to the wants and needs of nonacademic employers with whom they hardly ever interact?
Graduate students and Ph.D.s are often told that, by virtue of their writing and teaching experiences, they possess strong communication skills. That is true in the narrow sense—that they are fluent in their native disciplinary dialect of academese.
But businessese is another language. It has its own unwritten rules, its own tacit assumptions and cultural norms, its own criteria for effective communication. The difference between academese and businessese is a profound lesson that far too many academic expatriates learn the hard way: through flubbed phone screens, wallpapers of rejected résumés and the screaming silence of an empty inbox the week after the final round of interviews.
Academese-to-Businessese Translator
This table is designed to make the translation process as straightforward as possible. It is intended to help graduate students, Ph.D.s and anyone else leaving higher ed begin to surmount the academese/businessese language barrier. It may be especially useful for writing a nonacademic résumé, building a LinkedIn profile or formulating answers to common interview questions.
Academese
Businessese
I wrote a dissertation, published a book or conducted some other major research project.
Conducted a multiyear research project that resulted in a X-page dissertation/book and multiple public presentations at national and international conferences.
Managed parallel, long-term research objectives and synthesized them into a large-scale research report.
Took ownership of all phases of content production and optimization including planning, information gathering, writing, reviewing, editing and final approval.
Effectively communicated with stakeholders and cross-functional teams comprising X, Y and Z.
I published in scholarly journals.
Published X articles in peer-reviewed journals while balancing multiple priorities in tight timelines.
Conducted research and communicated key findings and insights to subject-matter experts.
I received fellowships, grants or awards.
Secured over $X in funding from home institution as well as multiple international organizations.
Produced high-level overviews of research projects. Summarized key project details while articulating broader significance to various organizations and stakeholders.
I presented at conferences.
Organized X panels and gave Y public presentations at national and international conferences.
Effectively communicated complex ideas to diverse audiences, including nonnative English speakers.
I taught or TA’d courses.
Managed over X students across Y course sections. Tracked learning objectives and devised criteria to evaluate student success.
Planned and presented over X lectures of one hour each on a wide range of topics, communicating complex ideas to diverse audiences with varying degrees of preparation and familiarity with subject materials.
Boosted course retention rate by X percent over a Y-month period.
Exceeded college averages in content comprehension and overall student satisfaction by X percent. (Course evaluations may help quantify this.)
Evaluated and provided critical feedback on over X assignments.
Expressed complex ideas to students clearly and diplomatically. Provided ongoing constructive feedback on assignments, resulting in improved writing and analysis.
Coordinated teaching assistants and administered midterms and final exams.
Conducted games, debates and other interactive and engaging learning activities.
I designed my own courses or programs.
Designed and directed in-person and remote courses. Developed examination and essay assignments to assess student understanding and critical thinking.
Devised appropriate learning activities based on course requirements and learning objectives.
Proposed and negotiated structural revisions for university programs that cover X course sections per year, delivering Y percent course fill rate.
Collaborated with faculty and the department chair in overhauling the program’s flagship survey course delivered to over X students.
I tutored, worked with or assisted students in some other capacity.
Tutored students to significantly boost overall course grades by X percent.
Managed a class of X students during an intensive Y-week summer session comprising over Z hours of instruction.
Coached and mentored student/faculty liaisons and trained students for professional success.
Delivered X hours of instruction via e-learning and learning management systems (Moodle, Blackboard, Canvas, D2L, etc.).
I was department chair, graduate student liaison or some other admin role.
Served as X for the Y department at the University of Z.
Assisted in boosting enrollment/course retention/student completion by X percent over a Y-month period.
These bullets are designed to be imported into the “Experience” section of a résumé. However, they are not set in stone. If you use this table to write a résumé, tailor each bullet to your circumstances as well as to the jobs you are applying for.
Start each line with a strong action verb, ideally one that conveys an improvement of some kind: “boosted,” “exceeded,” “overhauled” and so on. Add numbers wherever possible: students taught, funding procured, percent improvement and the like. Numbers provide a concrete measure of professional achievements. If you don’t have exact numbers handy, take a ballpark guess.
You can expand or combine many of these bullets into STAR stories to be deployed during a nonacademic interview. If you’re unfamiliar with the STAR method, an interview technique that provides a format for telling a story by describing the situation, task, action and result, see this article. STAR is by far the most common structured interview method. If you’re seeking to break into business and industry, keep two to three STAR stories in your back pocket at all times.
To sum up, in all stages of the job search—résumé writing, interviewing and beyond—translating academic experiences into business and industry terms is essential. Effective communication requires more than writing and public speaking skills. It requires the ability to address an audience in their own language, using familiar terms to articulate their wants and needs while heeding the tacit assumptions and cultural norms behind everything said. Translating is possible, and experience is the best teacher. This table is only meant as a starting point.
Translation Services are important for a variety of reasons. Whether you need to translate your website into another language, or you need legal documents translated, it’s important to find the right Translation Service for the job. There are many Translation Services out there, but not all of them are created equal. It’s important to do your research and find a Translation Service that has a good reputation and that can handle your specific needs. In this blog post, we will discuss Translation Services and how they can benefit your business.
If You’re Traveling Abroad And Need To Communicate With Locals
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There are many different types of translation services available, so it’s important to choose one that’s right for your needs. If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to communicate with locals, an online translation service may be the best option for you. These services can provide real-time translations of conversations, making it easy to get your point across.
If you need to translate a document, such as a birth certificate or passport, you’ll need to use a different type of translation service. These services can provide accurate translations of important documents, ensuring that all the information is conveyed correctly. No matter what your needs are, there’s a translation service out there that can help you communicate effectively in any situation. So don’t let the language barrier stop you from enjoying your travels – get in touch with a translation service today.
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Hosting a foreign exchange student is a great way to learn about another culture and make new friends, but it can also be challenging. Translation services can help you overcome the language barrier and make sure that everyone understands each other. With the help of a translation service, you can ensure that your experience hosting a foreign exchange student is a positive one for both you and your student. translation services can be a valuable resource in any situation where there is a language barrier.
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If You’re Going on vacation
If you’re going on vacation, it’s important to have a professional translation service on hand. Translation services can help facilitate communication and ensure that everyone is on the same page. Having a professional translation service can also help build trust and rapport with your international colleagues. In a business meeting, accurate and effective communication is essential for success. Translation services can help ensure that your meeting is a success.
It is also important to consider the culture of your international colleagues when attending a business meeting. Translation services can help you understand and respect the cultural differences of your colleagues. With the help of a professional translation service, you can make sure that your meeting is a success. The success of your business meeting can depend on the quality of your translation service. Translation services can help you communicate effectively and build trust with your international colleagues. When choosing a translation service, it is important to choose a reputable and experienced company. Choose a company that has experience in providing accurate and effective translations. Choose a company that will work with you to ensure that your meeting is a success. Translation services can help make your business meeting a success. With the help of a professional translation service, you can communicate effectively, build trust, and respect the cultural differences of your colleagues. Choose a reputable and experienced translation service to ensure that your business meeting is a success.
If You Want To Learn A New Language Yourself
Translation services are not only for businesses. If you want to learn a new language yourself, there are plenty of translation services that can help you out. There are many different ways to learn a new language, but often the most effective way is to immerse yourself in it. Translation services can help you do just that by providing materials in the language you’re trying to learn. Whether you want to read a book, watch a movie, or even just have a conversation, translation services can help you out. So if you’re looking to learn a new language, don’t forget about the Translation Services available to help you out. You might be surprised at how much they can help.
Learning a new language can be a difficult and time-consuming task, but with the help of Translation Services, it doesn’t have to be. Translation Services can provide you with the resources and assistance you need to make learning a new language easier than ever. So if you’re looking to learn a new language, don’t hesitate to use Translation Services to help you out. You might be surprised at how much they can help you learn. Translation Services can provide you with the resources and assistance you need to make learning a new language easier than ever. So if you’re looking to learn a new language, don’t hesitate to use Translation Services to help you out. You might be surprised at how much they can help you learn. Translation services are not only for businesses. If you want to learn a new language yourself, there are plenty of translation services that can help you out. There are many different ways to learn a new language, but often the most effective way is to immerse yourself in it. Translation services can help you do just that by providing materials in the language you’re trying to learn. Whether you want to read a book, watch a movie, or even just have a conversation, translation services can help you out. So if you’re looking to learn a new language, don’t forget about the Translation Services available to help you out. You might be surprised at how much they can help.
If You Need Legal Or Medical Translation Services
There are many situations in which you might need the services of a professional translator. If you’re dealing with legal or medical documents, for example, it’s essential that they be translated accurately. In these cases, you can’t just use any old online translation tool – you need to make sure that the translator you use is qualified and experienced.
At Translation Services, we have a team of qualified and experienced translators who can provide accurate translations of legal and medical documents. We understand the importance of getting these translations right, so you can rest assured that your documents will be translated accurately and precisely.
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Action Staffing Solutions Inc. failed to show that the Government Accountability Office should reconsider its dismissal of the company’s protest of 2bFocused Inc.'s contract to provide translation and interpreter support services at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, the GAO said in a decision released Friday.
Action Staffing argued that the solicitation process was tainted by a Procurement Integrity Act violation by the Army. The GAO in an unpublished May 18 decision said the protest was untimely because Action Staffing didn’t report the alleged violation to the agency within 14 days.
French language service provider (LSP), Word Class, has acquired 100% of Fastnet Translation, according to a July 12, 2022 press release. No financial details around the transaction were disclosed.
Antoine Camus, CEO of Word Class, told Slator that the LSP had been considering external growth “for a couple of years,” with the goal of increasing the company’s presence in France and international markets. Fastnet, with its strong brand and robust portfolio of clients in the financial sector, stood out.
While the companies share a general focus on financial content, Fastnet Translation specializes in asset management. World Class’ areas of expertise include financial communication, regulatory disclosures, and financial research and analysis.
“Part of the acquisition rationale was that both companies had experience in different financial fields with no overlap,” Camus explained. As mentioned in the same press release, Word Class plans to incorporate Fastnet as its “pure player multilingual financial translation brand.”
Word Class’ service offerings are divided roughly in thirds across multimedia, digital marketing, and e-learning. Founded in 2010, the LSP works in more than 70 languages and has a headcount of 17 distributed among three offices in Paris, Singapore, and New Mexico, USA.
Fastnet, founded in 2006, specializes in high-value services such as transcreation, consulting, and platform integration, in addition to linguistic services including DTP, dubbing, and subtitling.
Previous owners Philippe Sabbah and Jean-Bernard Le Floc’h, former finance professionals with over 30 years of combined experience in capital markets and asset management, will continue to contribute as “strategic advisers” during a transition period. Fastnet’s project management team and network of almost 500 freelance linguists will remain onboard and unchanged post-deal.
Moving forward, Geraldine Lim, Chief Digital Officer at Word Class, will take the helm, while Chief Strategy Officer, Emmanuel Hacques, a recent addition to the team, will oversee Fastnet Translation and advise the LSP on future potential acquisitions.
“We will continue to remain attentive yet very selective in our external growth strategy,” CEO Camus said of Word Class’ plans.
In the short term, he said, this means leveraging Fastnet Translation’s “tremendous growth potential” serving leading global investment firms. Further down the line, Word Class expects to develop the company’s presence in new markets and verticals, and explore valued-added technology solutions.
SKANEATELES, N.Y., July 28, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Armory Square Ventures, a technology venture capital firm operating across New York State, announced its launch today of the Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation. The new annual prize awards a talented literary translator with book publication. The winning manuscript, selected by a jury of peers, will be a translation of a literary work from one South Asian language into English.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://ift.tt/wKIXSTY
The Armory Square Prize has a jury comprised of award-winning specialists in South Asian and non-South Asian literary translation (Photo: Business Wire)
The inaugural prize aims to cultivate a new generation of literary translators working with South Asian languages. The competition is also an effort to remedy the stark disparities in literary translation worldwide and support compelling storytellers from the Indian Subcontinent by recognizing them within the literary ecosystem.
"Despite the wealth and significance of literary work in South Asian languages, there have traditionally been limited investments associated with translating that canon into English," says Pia Sawhney, Partner and Co-Founder of Armory Square Ventures and formerly a journalist and documentary filmmaker. "At Armory Square, we recognize entrepreneurial talent early and value risk-taking. Our hope is the prize will do the same and awaken a new space for literary creativity and industry."
"Our investments consistently infuse optimism and momentum into promising but overlooked areas of the United States," says Sawhney. "With this prize, we aim to build bridges of the future between readers from the United States and those from Asia. We are thrilled to collaborate with such an accomplished and extraordinary jury, and we could not be more pleased to have the privilege to introduce English-speaking readers to a fresh and provocative new body of literature."
The Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation was created to inspire new directions for translators into English from one of the most diverse, historically complex, and culturally vibrant regions of the world. Of the nearly 7,600 books published in translation in the United States over the past decade, only 64, or fewer than 1%, originated from a South Asian language, even though these languages are spoken by a full one-fifth of the world’s population.
In contrast, there is an overwhelming prevalence of literature translated from European languages in the United States. Recent initiatives supporting translations from Norwegian, Korean and Arabic, for example, have had a tangible impact on the number of books translated and published from those languages into English.
The new prize will be open to translators of literature written by a South Asian author in a language other than English. Any book-length work of narrative prose, fiction, or nonfiction, by a South Asian author (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives or the diaspora) will be eligible.
The jury for the prize, which includes Sawhney, brings together award-winning specialists in South Asian and non-South Asian literary translation. Originally from Buffalo, jury chair Jason Grunebaum is a literary translator from Hindi and an instructional professor at the University of Chicago. He is a translator of Manzoor Ahtesham and Uday Prakash, among other Hindi writers, and teaches both Hindi and literary translation.
The complete list of judges includes (in alphabetical order):
Jason Grunebaum (Jury Chair), translator from Hindi: shortlisted for DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, winner of an NEA Literature Fellowship in Translation, winner PEN/Heim Translation Fund grant.
Shahnaz Habib, translator from Malayalam: Winner of JCB Prize for Literature.
Anton Hur, translator from Korean: shortlisted International Booker 2022, double longlisted International Booker 2022, winner of PEN/Heim Translation Fund grant and PEN translates award.
Daisy Rockwell, translator from Hindi and Urdu: 2022 International Booker winner, winner of MLA Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize.
Pia Sawhney, Partner, Armory Square Ventures: Previous winner of the Amnesty International DOEN Award for Human Rights for work as a documentary filmmaker and journalist.
Arunava Sinha, translator from Bangla: Winner of 2022 Vani Foundation Distinguished Translator Award, twice winner of Crossword translation award, shortlisted for Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, shortlisted for the National Translation Award.
Jeffrey Zuckerman, translator from French: Shortlisted for the PEN Translation Prize, the Best Translated Book Award, the Albertine Prize, the TA First Translation Prize, and winner of a PEN/Heim Translation Fund grant and the 2019 French Voices Grand Prize.
"This is an enriching and incredible opportunity," says Grunebaum. "This prize brings together all parts of the literary ecosystem necessary to bring good translations of South Asian literature to bookshelves. Translators will find writers and works to fall in love with and translate, and editors and publishers will discover new voices for readers who are seeking different kinds of storytellers. It will also be a space to form ongoing, sustainable relationships between publishers in the Subcontinent and those beyond."
The prize jury will first and foremost consider the quality of the translation, paying particular attention to the creative and artful solutions that the translator has used to address the translation challenges posed by the work. The jury will also consider the significance of the original work and its author, and the extent to which the language and author are underrepresented in English.
The deadline for applications is December 31, 2022. The shortlist will be announced in March 2023. Excerpts of the shortlisted work will be published and featured by Words Without Borders, an online literary publication with global reach. The final winner will be announced in April 2023, and the award recipient’s book will be published by Open Letter Books in fall 2024. The Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation is sponsored by Armory Square Ventures.
Please visit the Armory Square Ventures website for more information and application instructions.
About Armory Square Ventures in Skaneateles, New York
Armory Square Ventures (ASV) is a diverse, leading technology venture capital firm that strives to be a community catalyst across all of New York State. With offices in the Finger Lakes and New York City, ASV arose out of the desire to seed opportunities and jobs for those based in our region and beyond. As such, we are an optimism engine for ecosystems outside of Silicon Valley, supporting B2B and tech-enabled software startups to source talent, resources and capital. Our focus lies in places overlooked by other investors. The fund’s investments include ACV Auctions (NASDAQ: ACVA), Agronomic Technology Corporation (acquired by Yara), BentoBox CMS (acquired by Fiserv), Clerio Vision, Good Uncle (acquired by Aramark), Heretto, RealEats, Squarefoot, StorySlab, Vengo Labs, Vizbee, UCM Digital, 8B and Moxie.
For more information, visit: www.armorysv.com.
About Open Letter Books in Rochester, New York
Open Letter—the University of Rochester's nonprofit, literary translation press—is one of only a handful of publishing houses dedicated to increasing access to world literature for English readers. Publishing ten titles in translation each year and running an online literary website called Three Percent, Open Letter searches for works that are extraordinary and influential, works that we hope will become the classics of tomorrow.
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Contacts
Media Contact for Armory Square Ventures
Deena Chalabi
deena@armorysv.com
95 million people are native speakers of German — and 85 million speak it as a second language. These speakers range from the people of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria (it is the most widely spoken “mother tongue” in the EU) to those impacted by German colonialism and refugees and immigrants arriving in these countries. It is the third most widely taught foreign language in the U.S. and the EU, and the third most widely used language on websites.
That on its own wouldn’t necessarily guarantee a high rate of translation. But German-speaking countries are also ranked fifth in publication of new books, so that one tenth of all books, including ebooks, in the world are being published in German [link is to download HTML document].
So, this is not one of the lists that I really had to struggle to find books for — we’re lucky to have a wealth of books translated from German into English. Still, we need more of them, particularly from modern-day women writers and authors of color. I found so many wondrous-looking books on my search that aren’t being translated yet — I want debut novel Ministry of Dreams by nonbinary Iranian journalist Hengameh Yaghoobifarah, and Ada’s Raum by Sharon Dodua Otoo, and At Night All Is Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar, and Rose Stem by Angela Stiedele, in my hands and ready to be read.
There’s an entire database, New Books in German, that highlights German-language books from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland that are waiting to be translated into English — translators and editors can get financial support for the translations through their partner organizations.
The books I’ve gathered for this list touch on dislocation, disillusionment, and disenfranchisement. They dive into small moments of human connection and the realities of politics today in Germany — from the refugee crisis to the impact of globalization to the still-pervasive existence of the far-right. A melancholy of memory and loss haunts our characters. Wide, quirky casts of characters build the scenes. They are personal favorites and stunning recent releases. I hope you enjoy.
Please note that while I took great care to list content warnings where I could, things can fall through the cracks. Please do additional research on the recommended titles if needed.
What You Can See From Here by Mariana Leky, translated by Tess Lewis
In this brilliant, witty, vivid story, young Luise is growing up with her grandmother Selma. When Selma dreams of an okapi, everyone in town knows what it means — someone is about to die — and the town plunges into a day of anxiety and impulsive confessions. We follow Luise alongside her coming of age, filtered through turning points defined by loss and by a charming small town of fun, silly characters, from the moping Sad Marlies to the nervous optician to the superstitious Elsbeth. Leky’s book, which was one of my favorite books of 2021, captures the bittersweetness of life and all its hopes and small joys and big sorrows. Soft, quirky, and dreamy!
Content warnings for death, grief.
Song for the Missing by Pierre Jarawan, translated by Elisabeth Lauffer
In this work of historical fiction, a man named Amin in Lebanon decides to write down his memories and story. He returned to Lebanon from Germany with his grandmother Yara when he was just a teen, and tried to put together the puzzle of what happened to their country in the interim — the thousands of missing people, the debris of conflict. As he forges a friendship with a boy named Jafar, who shows him around the city of Beirut, he realizes that the world he grew up in was vastly different from the one being formed in his homeland while he was away. The book digs into memory, history, displacement, and uncertainty.
Content warnings for violence, war.
Where You Come From by Saša Stanišić, translated by Damion Searls
Bringing together autobiographical fiction with a multitude of other genres, Bosnian German Stanišić writes of a sparsely populated village and a family’s escape from the fighting in then-Yugoslavia to Germany, of their struggle to build an identity and life in a new country despite resistance and language barriers. It’s a funny, tear-jerking, and vivid book about immigration, luck, loss, inspired by the author’s own journey with his family. The author — who won the prestigious German Book Prize for this novel — writes of origins and homelands, of shame and hate, of memory and family.
Content warnings for Islamophobia, xenophobia, prejudice, racism.
Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Susan Bernofsky
Retired professor Richard is lonely after the death of his wife and looking for something to fill his time. To his own surprise, he finds himself trying to wrap his head around the struggle of African asylum seekers in Berlin, interviewing them about their lives and experiences. Richard grew up in East Germany, in a pre-reunification Berlin where the wall was still standing, and as he grows increasingly familiar with how his country treats these refugees, he muses on the nature of borders, the forced erasure of memory, and the absurdities of what these men face. It’s a really vivid, empathetic, beautiful book about a man confronting his own privilege and becoming increasingly immersed into the world of the asylum seekers.
Content warnings for xenophonia, Islamophobia, racism, ethnic and racist violence, use of racial slurs.
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke, translated by Anthea Bell
Did you know that childhood fantasy classic Inkheart is translated from German? It’s an old favorite of mine. In this fantastical epic, Meggie and her father Mo, a book binder and restorer, have their lives shaken when a mysterious man right out of the pages of a book, Dustfinger, arrives at their door. It turns out that many years ago, Mo read a villain out of a book, manifesting him into their reality. Now, they’re immersed in a real-life adventure. This poetic, lengthy story made for young book lovers is about stepping into — or out of — the pages of a book.
High As The Waters Rise by Anja Kampmann, translated by Anne Posten
Waclaw and Mátyás are oil rig workers and best friends. So when Mátyás goes missing, lost at sea, Waclaw is plunged into his grief. He’ll go on to visit his friend’s furious half-sister in Hungary, see other rig workers on shore leave and meet other people struggling under the weight of capitalism, and finally land in his hometown in Germany. This book is a poignant story that centers around a passionate male friendship. It’s rare that male friendships get the treatment they deserve, given the full emotional weight that female friendships or romances are more likely to receive. Kampmann’s writing is poetic and rich in this novel.
Content warnings for death, grief.
The Blacksmith’s Daughter by Selim Özdoğan, translated by Ayça Türkoğlu and Katy Derbyshire
This book is the first in the “Anatolian Blues” trilogy, which traces the life of Gül, a girl who first grows up in 1950s Anatolia before moving to Germany as a migrant worker. This first book is the story of her childhood and coming of age in the large family of her father, a blacksmith named Timur. While the cast of characters in her village is complex and lovely, their life is harsh, and the vivid story shows why Gül eventually decides to head to Germany in order to find work. The second book in the series, 52 Factory Lane, was published earlier this year.
Content warnings for poverty, death of a parent.
Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yōko Tawada, translated by Susan Bernofsky
Three generations of polar bears — the unnamed grandmother matriarch, the performer Tosca, and her son Knut — perform and write in East Germany in this strange, surreal novel. There’s the grandmother, an ex-pat whose autobiography becomes famous but who longs for cold and Canada, there’s the painful circus world of Tosca, and there’s Knut, born in a zoo (based on a real bear). Over the generations, their ability to communicate with humans slowly breaks down in the bears’ isolation and subjugation.
Tawada is a Japanese writer working and living in Berlin. This novel is doubly translated — Tawada wrote it first in Japanese and then translated it herself into German. That version was then translated into English.
Content warnings for animal cruelty / death.
Identitti by Mithu Sanyal, translated by Alta L. Price
Nivedita is a German Indian doctoral student, blogger, and activist who worships her supervisor, celebrity professor Saraswati, a postcolonial and race studies expert. Except then — just hours after Nivedita sings her praises on the radio — a bombshell unfurls a storm of controversy and debate. It turns out, professor Saraswati is actually white. Nivedita, sharing her thoughts in a long soliloquy to goddess Kali, has to reconsider the validity of all the lessons that Saraswati taught her, and is thrown into debates about “transracial” identity, ethics, and construct. Sanyal’s new novel is a satiric force dealing with many modern-day issues of identity and politics through the powerful voice and journey of Nivedita.
Content warnings for racism, online harassment.
An Inventory of Losses by Judith Schalansky, translated by Jackie Smith
In this strange collection of short stories, Schalansky crafts fictions around empty spaces, things that have died out, disappeared, that we don’t know quite enough about to see clearly. She writes of a Caspian tiger made to fight by the Romans, of the gaps in Sappho’s verses, of an island that may have existed. Some of the genre-bending essay-stories are more effective than others, but all of them are rich and descriptive, digging into death, memory, decomposition, and destruction. Where do things that get lost go? What happens to the places and buildings that slip out of our written records and exist only in stories or in our memories? It’s an intriguing, dense, thought-provoking book.
Content warnings for ableism, imperialism, exotification, animal cruelty.
1,000 Coils of Fear by Olivia Wenzel, translated by Priscilla Layne
A Black German woman engages herself (or is it?) in a long, painful dialogue that unfurls into her past, into her traumas and microaggressions, into her too-absent parents, her grandmother, and her twin brother who died by suicide at just 19. She speaks of neo-Nazis arriving where she and her boyfriend are camping by a lake; of waking up in New York on the morning that Donald Trump was elected; of the people in her life who retain connections to the far-right. In this strange new novel where time is nebulous and past traumas mix irrepressibly with the present, the protagonist lives in a vivid, painful ocean of fear that she can’t shake, constantly waiting for the next horrible thing to happen.
Content warnings for racism, Islamophobia, use of the n-word, suicide / suicidal ideation, anxiety, anti-Indigenous language.
The Shadow by Melanie Raabe, translated by Imogen Taylor
Norah has just moved to Vienna, hoping to leave her trauma and old life far behind her. But then a homeless woman tells her that on February 11, she will kill a man named Arthur Grimm. “Of your own free will. And for a good reason.” Ominous, right? And it just so happens that years ago, on February 11, Norah’s childhood best friend died by suicide, a traumatic event that continues to haunt her. So when Grimm appears in her life, when she starts getting creepy texts and suspecting someone has been in her apartment, she starts to wonder whether she knows the real story of what happened all those years ago. And whether she can trust the woman’s assessment that if she kills him…he’ll have deserved it. This slow-burn thriller is worth the investment.
Content warnings for suicide, misogyny, transphobia, animal death, child death, substance abuse, stalking, fatphobia, transphobia, adult/minor relationship, sexual assault.
Tiger Milk by Stephanie de Velasco, translated by Tim Mohr
Bold, impulsive German girl Nini and whip-smart Iraqi immigrant Jameelah are best friends in high school, filled to the brim with the recklessness of too much independence and the certainty that their youth gives them an unshakeable immortality. They wander the city, experimenting with sex and sipping their alcoholic concoction “tiger milk,” lounging by the pool and dealing with friend drama. But their summer is disrupted by the chasm between Muslim and non-Muslim worlds, by prejudice and Islamophobia, by misogyny and a violent act that rocks their neighborhood. Velasco completely nailed the pain and joy of being best friends as a teenage girl, and the immaturity, impulsiveness, and irrationality of being a teen.
Want more books in translation content? I have lists for you of books in translation from Catalonia, Argentina, France, Mexico, Central Africa, Japan, Southeastern Europe, Brazil, China, and Western Africa. If you have recommendations or requests for future lists of books in translation, or if you want me to know about a book I missed, please let me know on Twitter.
In the 1870s Gustave Flaubert wrote the Dictionary of Received Ideas. The satirical work was meant to poke fun at the mores of France at the time. Its definitions are absurd, sometimes self-contradictory, and generally hilarious. Of late it has occurred to me that the American left has been laboring for years now on its own Dictionary of Received Ideas.
In some cases words we have thought we’ve known the meaning of for our whole lives have suddenly changed, in others new words appear like little green buds sprouting on a tower’s ivy. But in any and all cases it is best to know what these words mean now, so that we can make better sense of progressives and understand why it is that they are always right and others always wrong.
Below are but a handful of these new definitions, eventually the entire English language will undergo this transformation, but for now, these are some important terms to understand when Democrats use them.
Woman
A woman is any adult person who believes or states that they are female at any given time. There exists no physical way to describe any unique attributes to women’s bodies. Unless you are discussing abortion.
Racism
Racism is the foundational state of society, especially American and other Western societies. It was the primary and driving factor of the development of white society. Examples of racism can be overt, but also unintentional, such examples include, but are not limited to, cultural appropriation, failure to acknowledge one’s privilege, and the existence of pretty much any statue erected before 1970.
Latinx
Latinx is a term meant to correct Hispanics’ unintentional sexism in how they have referred to themselves for several hundred years. While apparently upwards of 97 percent of Hispanics don’t use the term, and many have never even heard it, its use in political or academic contexts is a signal that whatever the person using it says must be true. Widely applicable, it can refer to a Dominican man, a Puerto Rican woman (see above) or a Corona.
Human life
A Human life begins at the exact moment that a fetus leaves the birth canal. The transformation from a mere clump of cells to a human life is instantaneous in that moment. No physical or mental characteristics existing prior to the moment of birth confer human life on a subject in utero. This definition of life is specific to humans and does not define life in any other animal species.
Recession
An economic downturn once defined as two straight quarters of negative gross domestic product growth, it is now defined in a more nuanced and broad manner, involving a range of metrics too complicated for you to understand but which will never rise to actual recession levels when a Democrat is president.
Insurrection
A violent attempt to disrupt the usual practice of government and law by a group pursuing the overthrow of said government. This of course does not apply to attacks on federal buildings in Portland for which the term "mostly peaceful protest" is best suited.
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Equity
Equity is the perfect state of society in which all resources are distributed exactly equally among all people, men or women (see above), of every demographic group. Any evidence of demographic disparity is evidence of discrimination and must be eradicated at any cost. This includes but is not limited to disparities in resources based on race, gender, height, hair color, attractiveness, intelligence, and an ear for music.
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These are but a small fraction of the new definitions popping up all over, and more are coming, we will spend the rest of our lives doing this. But in the end it will be worth it when everyone has exactly the same amount of everything, even though that is likely to be a small and dwindling amount. Oh, happy will we be once all of us – regardless of how we self-identify – are all exactly the same.
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David Marcus is a columnist living in New York City and the author of "Charade: The Covid Lies That Crushed A Nation."
Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist responds to state initiatives to administer inflation relief checks and the White House's recent move questioning the definition of 'recession.'
Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist criticized the Biden White House on "Mornings with Maria," Tuesday, calling out its attempts to denigrate the definition of "recession" to two-quarters of negative growth in a blog post.
"They have to say ridiculous things like that, even have an argument with a dictionary," Norquist told host Maria Bartiromo.
"Sitting around the table with Biden are all the interest groups in the modern Democratic Party," he added, citing labor unions, "big city political machines" and environmental activists.
GROUP WARNS RECESSION IS HERE, ENERGY PRICES, 2-DAY FED MEETING AND MORE: TUESDAY'S 5 THINGS TO KNOW
The White House (AP / AP Images)
Norquist argued these progressive ideologues have policy agendas that are "disassociated from reality" in terms of costs and blamed President Biden's increased regulations, frivolous spending and bestowing more powers upon labor unions for skyrocketing inflation, saying, "he did this."
STIMULUS CHECK UPDATE: THESE STATES ARE SENDING ‘INFLATION RELIEF’ PAYMENTS
"They have to react to what they did to the country and the economy… we had very little inflation before Biden; now it's exploded…"
President Joe Biden speaks about the COVID-19 relief package in the State Dining Room of the White House, Monday, March 15, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)((AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) / AP Images)
Norquist also sounded off on fifteen U.S. states' attempts to combat inflation's pinch by doling out inflation relief checks to their residents, saying the silver lining is that fourteen states are "cutting marginal tax rates."
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Senate Republicans hold a press conference on inflation and tax hikes.
"You've got ten red states, run by Republican governors, and their goal is to phase their income tax down to zero — and they've begun to take steps to do just that," he said.
"Sending a check out is just spending. It's not a tax cut."
Larry Martin holds a wooden flute he uses to lead music at Gichitwaa Kateri in Minneapolis. He collaborates with Ojibwe-language expert Rick Gresczyk to translate hymns and psalms into Ojibwe for use at the parish, home to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Indian Ministry. MARIA WIERING | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Holding a wooden flute, Larry Martin stood during Mass July 10 and welcomed the congregation to join the responsorial psalm. He began: “Aw ge-chi-twaaa-wen-daa-go-zid, Gi-gi-zhe-ma-ni-doo-mi-nann.”
The language was Ojibwe, and the words translated to “Our God is the one who is glorious,” taken from Psalm 19.
Martin, a 79-year-old director emeritus of American Indian Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, worked with another language expert to convert the English to Ojibwe, the traditional language of many of the American Indian Catholics who worship at Gichitwaa Kateri in south Minneapolis, Martin’s parish.
Most of them can’t speak their ancestors’ language, but it’s meaningful to pray in it, he said. “It helps them give voice to their Indian identity,” he said.
Gichitwaa Kateri is home of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Indian Ministry. Since 2018, Martin and fellow parishioner Rick Gresczyk have translated into Ojibwe most of the responsorial psalms used in the Church’s three-year Sunday Mass cycle. That built on a project they began years earlier to translate popular hymns such as “Ode to Joy,” “Hail, Holy Queen” and “How Can I Keep from Singing?”
Their work caught the attention of Catholics planning Pope Francis’ visit to Canada, which began July 24 (see the special report, pages 9-11). At the request of organizers of the pope’s visit, Martin submitted a few hymns for consideration, including “Wezhitooyan Gakina Go” and “Hymn for Kateri Tekakwitha.”
The first, an Ojibwe creation song Martin and Gresczyk composed, was inspired by three sources: an Old English creation hymn, an Ojibwe creation story and a hymn attributed to Pope St. Gregory the Great. It was set to a traditional hymn melody called “Prospect,” and in 2019 it was sung by members of the choir of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., during the Knights of Columbus’ Supreme Convention, held that year in Minneapolis. Martin and his wife, Claire, worked on pronunciation with the singers, he said. The hymn was also recently featured at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis in connection with the art exhibit “Terra Nostra, Our Earth,” which was on display in May and June.
The second hymn was created by Father Jan Michael Joncas, a well-known liturgical composer and recently retired priest of the archdiocese. In 2012, he collaborated with the Gitchitwaa Kateri community to craft a hymn to celebrate the canonization of the parish’s namesake.
None of the hymns Martin submitted was ultimately chosen for the papal visit, confirmed Deacon Pedro Guevara-Mann, senior programs lead for the 2022 papal visit to Canada.
Martin thinks that might be partly due to regional difference: The Ojibwe dialect spoken in Canada differs from the dialect Martin and Gresczyk use, he said. He said it was an honor for the hymns to be considered.
In addition to their translation of popular Catholic hymns and psalms, they’ve set to music Ojibwe-language prayers of Bishop Frederic Baraga, the first bishop of Marquette, Michigan, whose 19th-century missionary work focused on communities around Lake Superior, including Minnesota’s North Shore. Bishop Baraga created a prayer book and hymnal in Ojibwe, set to the melodies of French Folk tunes. The hymns were popular among Ojibwe Catholics, Martin said.
Martin, who holds a doctorate in English linguistics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, dedicated some of his academic work to preparing about 100 of those hymns for contemporary use.
Like elements of Pope Francis’ Canadian pilgrimage, Martin and Gresczyk’s translation initiative is tied to culture reclamation efforts underway in the U.S. and Canada, in response to the Indian boarding school era, where American Indian and Indigenous children were removed from their homes and sent to government-funded schools, some run by Catholic religious orders and dioceses, where they were often not allowed to speak their native languages or express their cultures.
“The Church is responsible for damage to language, so we thought we should do something about bringing it back,” said Martin, who is Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe.
For the translations, Martin credits Gresczyk’s deep knowledge of Ojibwe. Martin doesn’t consider himself fluent, but says he can tweak grammar and align Gresczyk’s translations with the chosen melodies. Gresczyk now lives in northern Minnesota, so the two mostly collaborate by phone. Martin, who received graduate-level seminary formation at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., but left before ordination, also writes a short lesson to explain the translation, including notes on culture and theology. Those notes are published in Gichitwaa Kateri’s Sunday worship guide along with the psalm’s translation.
Shawn Phillips, director of the archdiocese’s Office of Indian Ministry and pastoral minister at Gichitwaa Kateri, said the translations help parishioners pray and learn more about their culture and heritage. He hopes one day there will be a similar effort to translate prayers into Dakota, so both of the primary Native American cultures in Minnesota would be represented, he said.
The translation effort is important, Phillips said, because “God will speak to them in their own language.”
“That was the Pentecost message,” he said. “It wasn’t that the Gospel be in Greek or in Roman, but … all of these people could understand it. It’s that God cares about us and speaks to us in our own language and knows us intimately.”
Tags: American Indian Catholics, Gichitwaa Kateri, Hymn translation, Larry Martin, Native American cultures, Native language, Ojibwe, Rick Gresczyk, Wooden flute
AMHERST, Mass. – English readers of digital foreign-language novels have long despaired over the poor quality of translation, especially when the original versions were published in a non-Romance language and written with a high-literary sensibility. But this may soon change, thanks to an $822,365 grant awarded to University of Massachusetts Amherst professor of computer and information science, Mohit Iyyer, from Open Philanthropy.
Image
UMass Amherst assistant professor Mohit Iyyer
Traditionally, novels have been translated by experts who are not only fluent in the denotative meaning of words in two or more languages, but also sensitive to the fine nuances and connotations that set literature apart from more technical writing. It might take such a translator years to arrive at a faithful rendition that preserves the play of language and image of the original—if such a translator can even be found. Since linguists estimate that there are more than 7,000 languages spoken on earth today, much of what gets written in one language will only get translated poorly into another, if it gets translated at all.
While the rise of AI-based translation software has helped to ease the bottleneck, it is far from perfect. “French to English translates comparatively well,” says Iyyer, “but Japanese to English is notoriously bad, and anything with a literary sensibility is hopeless.” To illustrate the point, Iyyer points to two translations of Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood. The first, by a professional human translator, reads:
A chill November rain darkens the land, turning the scene into a gloomy Flemish painting. The airport workers in their rain gear, the flags atop the faceless airport buildings, the BMW billboards, everything. Just great, I’m thinking, Germany again.
Compare that to the same Japanese source text run through Google Translate:
The frosty rain of November darkened the earth, and the mechanics wearing rain feathers, the flag standing on the flat airport building, the BMW billboard and everything like that were a gloomy picture of the Flemish school. It looked like the background of. I wondered if it was Germany again.
“The status-quo AI translators are often far too literal,” says Iyyer, “because they are trained on news articles and parliamentary proceedings"
Iyyer’s solution is to bring humans back into the equation. Over the next two years, Iyyer and his team will build an online platform that hosts a wide range of previously untranslated novels, which will be available in English thanks to an AI model that his team will develop. These translations will be interactive, and readers will be able to highlight sections of text that they think are incorrect and propose alternatives that read more smoothly. Another AI model—a post-editing model—will collect these user-generated corrections and update the AI translational model with them. It’s a way for the AI translation model to “learn.”
Iyyer is quick to point out that this process can’t replace the expertise of a dedicated human translator. “But,” he says, “it’s my hope that we can give those expert translators a head start, and in the meantime we can help spread readable versions of the world’s greatest literature.”
Ecolab Inc. said second-quarter earnings were roughly flat, in part due to unfavorable currency translation, even as higher prices helped drive sales growth.
The St. Paul, Minn., provider of water-treatment, hygiene and infection-prevention goods and services posted second-quarter net income of $308.3 million, down slightly from $310.8 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings were flat at $1.08 a share. The decline in earnings was driven in part by a 6-cent-per-share effect from unfavorable currency translation.
Stripping out one-time items, adjusted earnings came to $1.10 a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected earnings of $1.09.
Sales rose 13%, to $3.58 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected sales of $3.49 billion. Sales growth was boosted by a 9% increase in prices, Chief Executive Christophe Beck said.
"Total pricing is expected to accelerate further to keep us ahead of inflation, resulting in easing year-over-year margin pressure going forward," Mr. Beck said.
INC 500-Ranked Global Translation Company Expands to India, China and Australia
Irvine, CA – July 21, 2022 – The Spanish Group, an INC. 5000-ranked global translation service company offering expert, certified language translations in over 90 languages, has expanded its services to Australia, China and India, bringing the total number of countries The Spanish Group serves to 35.
“Our mission is to help build connections and create understanding through accurate, expert language translation services,” said The Spanish Group CEO Salvador Ordorica. “We are delighted about the fact that we have created rapid global growth through our commitment to excellence in language translations, and we are now serving 35 countries, including China, India, and Australia.”
In addition to working with translators who have a deep cultural understanding of China, India and Australia, The Spanish Group has also ensured a depth of proficiency by providing translation services for languages in high demand by businesses and consumers in these countries, including: Chinese Mandarin (as well as various dialects), Tagalog (Philippines), Vietnamese, and multiple African languages, including Swahili, Yoruba and more.
The Spanish Group have differentiated themselves from other language translation services through their commitment to quality, expertise in key industries requiring specialized translation services and expert, certified translators with native language expertise for the countries they serve. Translation services are offered online and delivered translations are certified, cost-effective and swiftly-produced.
The Spanish Group has earned particular recognition and success for its performance in translation areas such as legal, human resources, manufacturing and other industries, which they have achieved by working with experienced and specialized professionals with certified language proficiency.
About The Spanish Group
Founded in 2013 by CEO Salvador Ordorica, The Spanish Group is an internationally recognized certified translation service offering over 90 languages and unparalleled translation accuracy, localization, cost effectiveness, and efficiency. The Spanish Group’s mission is to further promote understanding and connectivity through language.
The Spanish Group sets itself apart by working with certified, professionally trained linguists all over the globe who are native speakers and deeply experienced specialists in a variety of fields.
Grit Daily News is the premier startup news hub. It is the top news source on Millennial and Gen Z startups — from fashion, tech, influencers, entrepreneurship, and funding. Based in New York, our team is global and brings with it over 400 years of combined reporting experience.
Little over a fortnight ago, India added another project to its audacious list of digital economy initiatives with the launch of Bhashini. A platform that will collate the available technology to accelerate internet access, both in text and voice, in local languages.
The intention is to democratise use of the internet in India by allowing people access in regional languages. Officially, India recognises 22 languages with 12 scripts. Clearly, translation in scale for such a diverse set of languages to take internet content to the people is only possible through the application of deep tech - machine translation.
At present, access to the internet is mostly in English, though only 10% Indians are proficient in it. While there are a few startups catering to regional language preferences and some browsers that offer translations access to content on the internet for a non-English user is restricted.
Like all other digital initiatives undertaken by India, this, too, is based on an open digital architecture. As a result, both in scale and scope, the latest digital initiative is the most ambitious ever. It is like a UPI (United Payments Interface) moment for digital inclusion.
For more than a decade after the use of the internet took off, English was the primary language of access. However, by the turn of the millennium, access to the internet had begun to be enabled in other international languages, gradually eroding the hegemony of English. According to Internet World Stats, the two most prevalent languages on the internet are English (25.9%) and Chinese (19.4%). Spanish and Arabic are a distant third and fourth at 7.9% and 5.2%, respectively. No Indian language made it to the top 10.
English Vinglish
The political economy of this is obvious: proficiency in English determines the scale of access to the internet in India, further worsening the existing digital divide. Enabling access in regional languages will, therefore, democratise internet use in the country. In fact, a GoI white paper on Bhashini (bit.ly/3BdMuCg) reveals that more than one in two of those surveyed said they would use the internet if the content was made available in local languages.
The rollout of Bhashini was formally proposed by Nirmala Sitharaman in her 2021-22 budget. 'We will undertake a new initiative - National Language Translation Mission (NTLM). This will enable the wealth of governance- and policy-related knowledge on the internet being made available in major Indian languages,' she told Lok Sabha. Since then, NTLM has acquired the moniker Bhashini and was launched this year on the seventh anniversary of the Digital India week.
To be sure, the idea of deploying machine translation to translate content from English to other languages has been in the making for decades. Though India came late to the party - while the western world launched this effort in the 1950s - researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research (TIFR) had started exploring it from the 1980s with reasonable success. It got wings when the earlier avatar of the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) started funding R&D projects and set up the Technology Development for Indian Languages (TDIL) in 1991.
Making Tongues Wag
After 2005, there was a fortuitous convergence of several trends, which provided an unexpected boost to this initiative:
n The advent of neural processing in which computers acquired the ability to refine their output tremendously by being able to process more information using artificial intelligence.
n The launch of smartphones and their proliferation empowered users. In the post-Jio world this meant easy and cheap access to data.
n Broadband connectivity under the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) is now extending its footprint to rural India. As on July 1, 181,216 of the 262,825 gram panchayats in the country are now part of the optical fibre grid.
Throughout most of this period - when the ecosystem was being developed - the research was driven by the TDIL. In fact, there have been several notable successes. The most high profile is the Supreme Court Vidhik Anuvaad Software (Suvas). It translates the judgments delivered in English into nine major Indian languages and vice-versa. It has since been adopted by the Bangladesh judiciary, too.
In addition, there exist commercial translation systems offered by Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook. Though remarkable, it is nowhere close to the desired levels of scale in universalising content in regional languages. With the launch of Bhashini, NLTM has gone into mission mode to resolve this asymmetry of digital access in India.
Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary is facing renewed criticism for slipping woke gender ideology into its definitions of “male” and “female.”
“Female,” primarily defined in the online dictionary as “of, relating to, or being the sex that typically has the capacity to bear young or produce eggs,” now includes the secondary definition of “having a gender identity that is the opposite of male.”
Similarly, the secondary definition of “male” reads “having a gender identity that is the opposite of female.”
The definition entries were originally changed in 2020, but widespread criticism resurfaced after the new definitions recently circulated on social media. Daily Wire podcast host Matt Walsh and the conservative account Libs of TikTok on Tuesday tweeted images of the expanded definitions as compared to past editions of the dictionary, resulting in a resurgence of overwhelmingly negative responses to Merriam-Webster’s addition.
In addition to including gender identity as a legitimate definition for “male” and “female,” Merriam-Webster added the words “typically has the capacity” to both the original definition of “female” as “the sex that bears young and produces eggs” and the original definition of “male” as “the sex that produces relatively small, usually motile gametes, which fertilize the eggs of a female.”
Those changes suggest agreement with the transgender community’s contention that a person’s gender identity is legitimate, even if that person does not have the same physical characteristics or capabilities as the gender they claim to embody.
Many who criticize Merriam-Webster’s subtle redefinition of “male” and “female” see it ultimately as an attack on the concepts of objective truth and reality, and think it reflects the culture’s dismissal of the biological reality of “male” and “female” as “transphobic” and even “dangerous.”
This redefinition continues Merriam-Webster’s trend of wokeness. In 2019, it chose the pronoun “they,” with one of its definitions as “a single person whose gender identity is nonbinary,” as its Word of the Year in a nod to the nonbinary community, and similarly added gender identity to its secondary definitions of “boy” and “girl” to read “a child whose gender identity is male” and “a person whose gender identity is female.”
The Daily Signal sought a comment from Merriam-Webster, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
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There are still many challenges even with consecutive interpretations. A ministry official said that to improve accuracy in simultaneous interpretation, it is necessary to develop technologies that can infer subjects often omitted in Japanese sentences and anticipate contexts of speech.
Pocketalk, a best-selling translation device in Japan by Pocketalk Corp. in Tokyo, combines translation engines by NICT, Google, and other companies with each other to support 82 languages. The product is increasingly used in the medical field in addition to travel and language learning.
Earphones, glasses
Portable translation devices are the most common on the market. Pocketalk, for example, is a palm-sized terminal about 10 centimetres long and six centimetres wide. The size of such devices can be reduced as technology improves. Google and Chinese information technology companies have also been developing and releasing earphone-type and glasses-type “wearable” translators. Consumers’ options are expanding and convenience is increasing.
The market of machine translation is expected to grow, intensifying development competition.
“Understanding someone who speaks a different language … can be a real challenge. Let’s see what happens when we take our advancements in translation and transcription and deliver them in your line of sight,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai told the audience at an event in May when introducing a prototype of a glasses-type translator.
Tobishima Corp., a construction company in Tokyo, developed a glasses-type translator with a display screen for one eye and has already put it into use at construction sites. The company said that the device has proved very helpful in communicating with foreign employees who do not understand Japanese well.
A Tobishima employee said, “The device can translate technical terms in the construction field, too. In addition, as translations are displayed on the screen, there is no problem even when it is used in a noisy environment.”
Emotions, intentions, thoughts and ideas. We use language to pull abstractions from the ether and transform them into concrete communication tools. How could we progress as a culture unless we shared a common understanding for popular words in the English language, such as book, friend, laugh, think or often, or uncommon words like biblioklept, nauseant or hirquiticke?
But that doesn't mean words don't fall out of fashion. In 2021, nine words were removed from dictionaries, or classified as "archaic," "historical" or "obsolete." Aerodrome, for example, was determined to no longer be applicable to modern life because we collectively call airplane landing fields "airports." Likewise, "frutescent," which refers to an object or person having the appearance of a shrub, was removed from the Merriam-Webster dictionary, as was "frigorific," which has been replaced by the more commonly used "frigid."
So who, exactly, makes the decision to remove a word from a dictionary?
The culling of dictionary words is left to lexicographers, who not only decide which words to remove but also add new words and update changing definitions or pronunciations. Lexicographers also are responsible for adding new words. In 2022, for example, "demisexual" and "vaxxed" were new additions to the Oxford English Dictionary, along with "humblebrag," which was added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Whether it's the Oxford English Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Dictionary, American Heritage Dictionary — or an exclusively digital version such as Dictionary.com — each type of dictionary has its own process for removing words and this information isn't always publicly available. While some dictionaries don't share the decision-making tree for word removal, the American Heritage Dictionary removes words created before the year 1755 that are only sporadically used in modern life.
When lexicographers remove a word from the dictionary, it doesn't mean that word ceases to exist. It also means that we, collectively, have the power to influence which words stay. If you'd like to return "skedaddle" to popular usage, then you'd better get to it — fast.
Truth is, it's actually quite difficult for a word to lose its place in a dictionary. Lexicographers don't take word-removal lightly. When a word comes into question, dictionary editors will embark on a rigorous examination of meaning, usage and popularity across sprawling language databases that cover a variety of mediums. Often, words that are marked for deletion from printed dictionaries are allowed to remain part of online dictionaries. This culling process for print editions allows dictionaries to remain relevant and, frankly, portable. Without removing words, we'd need a wheelbarrow to move our paper dictionaries like the Oxford English Dictionary, which contains about 600,000 entries — an estimated half of all the words used in the English language.
Despite carefully executed word addition and removal procedures, dictionaries aren't impervious to mistakes. For a time, "redripening" appeared in most dictionaries as one word, when it actually should have been hyphenated, as in a "red-ripening" strawberry.
The lexicographers behind some dictionaries have even wised up to competitors scraping their content and remarketing it as their own. The Oxford English Dictionary once included the fake word "esquivalience," along with the made-up definition of "the willful avoidance of one's official responsibilities," so they could spot other dictionaries ripping off their copyrighted work.
