Shopping online is the new normal as growing numbers of people make more of their essential and not-so-essential purchases on the Internet. And that was before the pandemic. In 2019, ecommerce retailers worldwide brought in more than $3.5 trillion. Ecommerce offers shoppers greater convenience and now Covid quarantine security. Yet, that’s often not enough to […]

Viral barrier, yes. Language barrier, no. Is it just me shouting behind my face mask? At any rate, I can’t hear a thing other people are saying behind their muffling masks. So some Japanese robot guide makers switched automation gears to fabricate mask-mounted speakers to amplify and translate whatever lies behind your mask. How Does […]

The University of California plans to drop the SAT and ACT, and develop its own admissions test. Some supporters say the move will increase diversity, though UC’s own research reveals otherwise, while other supporters hope the decision will lead to no testing at all. As COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc in the United States, standardized […]

Users of the discontinued Google Translator Toolkit had the option to download their data. But instead of doing exactly what it said on the box, Google actually sent users’ translation data to other users—and won’t reveal what got sent where. Oops! There’s no such thing as a free lunch, even though we like to pretend […]

It started with a seemingly harmless question: “Japan did more good than harm to China in the period 1900-45.’ Do you agree? Explain your answer.” Combined with two historical readings, it seemed like a nice item to measure critical thinking among Hong Kong history students. Not Just the Students Weighed In That question blew up […]

What would you do if your client required you to use a time-saving tool that actually made your work more time consuming? For one group of language service providers in Canada, the answer was clear: get a lawyer and sue their client, the Canadian Translation Bureau. Wait, What Tool Is This? The tool at the […]