Language | Responsive Translation

Languages Reveal as Well as Conceal

June 12, 2014 -By: Translation Guy -In: Language - Comments Off

Languages are living, breathing tools. In the translation business, it’s our job to express meaning across languages in the most accurate way possible. But what we mean and what we convey, especially in everyday speech, isn’t always clear, turning context and history into important markers. That’s just one of the reasons languages are such fascinating […]

On the Hunt for Emojis

June 10, 2014 -By: Translation Guy -In: Language, Translation - Comments Off

Inexplicably, my favorite Skype emoji is the ninja. It waves its sword around and then disappears in a cloud of smoke. What exactly I’m supposed to convey when I use it, I don’t know, but I have been known to use it when I’m in a good mood. Otherwise, the thumbs up, conveying “Yes!” is […]

Second-Language Speakers More Likely to Throw You Under the Bus

April 29, 2014 -By: Translation Guy -In: In the News / Awards, Language - Comments Off

You’re as cold as ice, I know -Lou Gramm We like to think that moral judgment comes in too flavors only–steadfast and rock-solid. No one want’s to be morally wishy-washy . We apply thoughtful, consistent principles to the resolution of any moral dilemma that happens to come down the pike. With moral certainty our strength, […]

Fifty Shades of Fluency

April 25, 2014 -By: Translation Guy -In: Interpretation, Language, Translation - Comments Off

Every second-language speaker knows: You’re fluency is only as good as your last sentence. We scientists call it “B-language terror,” that moment when the words free, and you are left deaf and dumb in a world beyond your understanding. Like one of those nightmares standing naked and speechless in front of English class. Now the […]

Telephone Interpreter Sued for Life-and-Death Address Error

April 15, 2014 -By: Translation Guy -In: Interpretation, Language, Translation - Comments Off

Just a reminder of the importance of accuracy to the translator’s trade. Translator error can kill. Even a “one” mistranslated as a “zero” spells “doom” if the ambulance goes to the wrong address. That’s according to a $3 million wrongful death lawsuit against a Spanish 9-1-1 telephone interpreter under contract to the City of Portland. […]

Interpreting Service for Mexican Indian Languages

April 3, 2014 -By: Translation Guy -In: In the News / Awards, Interpretation, Language - Comments Off

Do you need a Mixteco interpreter? Responsive Translation provides Mixteco interpreters for organizations and individuals through our on-demand telephone interpreting service. Growing numbers of immigrants to the US from Mexico and points south don’t do well with Spanish translation because they don’t speak Spanish. These are the speakers of American Indian languages. Mostly from the […]

Can’t Read, Won’t Buy

March 25, 2014 -By: Translation Guy -In: In the News / Awards, Language, Localization, Multilingual Web, Translation - Comments Off

Global marketers who stick to English only reach a global audience of illiterates. I was a soda jerk at Friendly’s Ice Cream when I first confronted the challenge of selling to the illiterate. Some jocular old coot asked me to read him the names of the ice cream off the sign. At first I thought […]

Technology and Translators in Healthcare

March 21, 2014 -By: Translation Guy -In: In the News / Awards, Language - Comments Off

With more patients in the US uncomfortable in English, demand for translation is rising as healthcare providers search for technology fixes and cost controls. The 21% of US residents speaking a language other than English at home and the 9% not fluent in English face language barriers that make good medical care more difficult, reports […]

Linguistics Proves the Land Bridge was a Two-Way Street

March 18, 2014 -By: Translation Guy -In: In the News / Awards, Language - Comments Off

Linguistics has confirmed the prehistoric links between Siberia and the New World. A new language study shows that the Beringia land bridge between Asia and North America was a two-way street 20,000 years ago. That’s when the Yeniseians, a central Siberian people, moved through Beringia to North America, where their descendents, the Na-Dene, settled along […]

Before We Fire All the Translators

March 11, 2014 -By: Translation Guy -In: In the News / Awards, Interpretation, Language - Comments Off

Everyone is so eager to fire the translators. There seems to be this collective social expectation that those pajama-clad ranks will soon be decimated by a host of friendly artificial intelligences. Picture row upon row of burnished steel automatons typing away in vast warehouses in secure desert locations. Sure, someday. My guess is about five […]