Mobile Blogging Failed, STC Conference Day 2

Well, the mobile blogging idea failed. I didn't have the patience to key in every single word with my not smartphone phone. I should get an Iphone if I want to seriously mobile blog. Yesterday, Catherine and I arrived in Atlanta, and we had to set up our booth. The new booth looks awesome, pictures to come. Now, I'm sitting in a session about blogging and using wikis and blogging about it. Hilarious. Anyway, the blogging aspect wasn't anything new, but the info on wiki's is pretty neat. The speaker is explaining the whole wiki process: setting it up, expanding it, and updating. ICD is considering creating a wiki to update our clients on what's going on with their projects. Twitter would work, but no one seems to think it's very professional. "Wiki Wars" the speaker just said that. Apparently, it happens. People battle it out to see what's actually "true" content. I know, I went off on a tangent. Ok, back to wikis.

The speaker is a writer for Floss manuals, and they use the wiki they created to run book sprints. Book Sprints are a collaborative writing effort to create a book or manual in a short period of time. One option is to use the wiki as a collaborative writing community like a writers block, but on an online community where things can be debated, edited and changed all at the same time. Floss Manuals was able to create a manual for Firefox users in 5 days, and it was a collaborative effort with Mozilla developers. That's pretty quick. There's so much out there in the online community, that people are starting to make business connections and promote their services through the internet. In order to succeed though, you have to be able to utilize the internet effectively, and manage and update your blogs, and wikis so people continue to follow your posts and stay connected.

Esprit d'ICD Spring 2009

Hello All,

ICD's Newsletter Esprit d'ICD has received a face lift for 2009. Gone are "Catherine's Column", "Employee Profile", and "Puzzler" (Ipod's are to valuable to give away during hard economic times). We have more content now and the articles are more concise. Now, you get more stuff to read and more information. We have tried to add article that are a little more widespread and encompass different issues and industries. Some highlights include: "New strides in machine interpretation", "Instant sharing of views and news through Twitter", "The first GPS without a screen", and "What's in a car name?" You can read the newsletter here

We have tried to include what's relevant in today's world, and what's going on in the translation industry. I hope you enjoy reading this issue. If you want to subscribe to our mailing list and receive a copy, email: translate@icdtranslation.com

I'll be in Alanta this coming week for the STC conference, and I'm going to try mobile blogging. Hopefully, I'll be able to inform you about the goings on at the STC, and stuff that might happen with the ICD team as we take on Atlanta.

How Language Crashed a Plane?

I was watching CNN this morning and they were talking about a new book (I don't remember the title), but it was about language and education and how cultural barriers are being broken. As they were talking, one of the highlights appeared on the bottom of the screen: "How Language Crashed a Plane?" That immediately caught my attention, and I listened intensely to the reporting. Apparently, there was a plane crash involving a Korean Airlines flight a few years ago (I tried searching for the story, but it seems Korean Air has a checkered history of airplane crashes and problems, and there were countless crashes. They've improved since the late 90's though. I was on a Korean Airlines flight last October, and it was actually really nice, service was great, all the booze you can drink etc.) Anyway, the reason this particular plane crashed was due to a disagreement between the pilot and co-pilot on the way to solve a problem with landing the plane, and to make matters worse there was a disagreement with ground control in Korea. This all stemmed from their communications in Korean because Korean is a hierarchical language where honorifics and speech level play and important part in grammar and verbiage used between conversations of people with different status. By status I mean either ones job position, age, and education level.

Allegedly, there was verbiage and tone that was incorrectly used between the co-pilot (lower status), and the pilot (higher status) as they disputed ideas to solve the problem they were encountering. This created an argument, and when the ground control officer got involved it elevated the communication breakdown that had occurred between the pilot and co-pilot. The language hierarchical problem that occurred was a costly life-ending event for Korean Airlines and since that incident, they have enforced the use of English for all instructions and commands on their airplanes. This lesson serves as an important factor when considering the use of language. When you get something translated, quality matters. You need to consider cultural aspect and important tone and verb usage. It's important to understand the culture, and experienced high quality translators are able to understand the culture, and translate appropriately.

Client Upload. Easier and Faster

ICD's website has an awesome new feature that allows clients to upload their files directly on our website. It's a new tab on the homepage called: "Client Upload". ICD is able to do this using the "Drop Site" feature through YouSendIt. This gives the client more flexibility and secure access without having to send an email or using an FTP. Once the file is uploaded the client gets an automated email notifying them that the file has been sent to ICD. ICD then gets an email from YouSendIt, notifying us that you have sent a file. So, start uploading your files.

I'm Published! Multilingual Magazine

Hi readers, great news! for me at least. My article: "Internationalized desktop publishing difficulties" just came out in "Multilingual Computing Magazine" If you've read my previous blog posts, you'll know that I have written about the horrors of poorly constructed documents that still give me nightmares. This article highlights some basic tools and ideas that you should keep in mind when creating your next document. Check out the excerpt below:

Internationalized desktop publishing difficulties LIONEL LIM

The process of translating documents involves several specialized activities in addition to translating content from one language to another. A major step in the translation process is the desktop publishing (DTP) of translated content so that the final product closely matches its English counterpart. When you are ready to translate your document, provide your language service provider (LSP) with the name and version number of the DTP application and the platform (Mac or PC) you are using for the English document. You should include the source files for your English documents in the original application, and you should indicate ... To read this entire article you must be a MultiLingual subscriber. For immediate access to the current issue, subscribe to the digital version. Already a subscriber? Above excerpt taken from the March 2009 issue of MultiLingual published by MultiLingual Computing, Inc., 319 North First Avenue, Suite 2, Sandpoint, Idaho 83864-1495 USA, 208-263-8178, Fax: 208-263-6310. Subscribe

March, 2009

ICD in Action

Recently, the ICD sales and marketing team (trade show warriors) attended (invaded) trade shows from DC to Montreal. They have been traveling so much, that some of them have packed their entire wardrobe and then some (Mads). Well, here are two pictures from a recent show in DC. The first one above is Catherine expressing the importance of translation and why it's important to consider quality over lower prices, while Sandy gives her winning smile and shows us what a true trade show warrior can handle.
Jeff is pictured below enjoying his time behind the booth after hours of walking the show, and collecting signed POs.


Well, here's to more successful shows in the future. ICD's trade show warriors are currently taking a much needed vacation from the floor, and they'll be back on the road this Summer.

French Canadian Week

Well, this week was unofficially "French Canadian Week" here at ICD. Catherine and Madeline went to Montreal for 3 days to meet with clients, and attend a Trade show. While I had to deal with some interesting French Canadian projects. No, we really don't have language weeks, but it might be fun to have a language week. Maybe we could sample food from that particular country where the language originates, blog about a particular project in that language, and even dress in the local costumes (this might be stretching it a little).

Anyway, the French Canadian project I had was placing French Canadian translations and English text for a bi-lingual label. First off, the label was designed for one language, so the bi-lingual label had to have smaller fonts so everything would fit. Secondly, the client wasn't familiar with the idea or concept of a bi-lingual layout, which is ok, and I fielded a lot of questions about it. So, the project was finished and it was English/French Canadian, and the client asked if it was appropriate for English to go first followed by French Canadian. Generally, this is the accepted layout, but I did ask my translator in Montreal, and his response was rather interesting: " The bilingual version made for Quebec is fine as-is, but could be made 'French before English', which would be more appropriate since the majority of Quebecois are French-speaking. However, Canadians, whether they are Anglo or Franco, are very used to seeing both languages side by side. This bilingual version for all of Canada would also address French-Canadians living outside Quebec."

Well, this comment is interesting because I found out today from Catherine upon her return from Montreal, that the government of Quebec requires that if a child born to two Quebecois (French Canadian speaking couple, both parents are from Quebec) are ONLY allowed to attend schools where French is the medium of instruction. The government does this to maintain the French heritage and culture in Quebec. I just thought this was an interesting way to sum up French Canadian Week, plus I learned a little fact about Quebec and the French Canadian culture.