March 2010

Thumbnail image for Plaque received from the BBC

Plaque received from the BBC

by Richard Brooks March 31, 2010 K International

As some of you will remember we took part in the world record attempt organised by the BBC to try and simultaneously plant as many trees as possible in one hour last year. Check our plaque out!

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Thumbnail image for Twitter May Soon Offer Auto-Translate Feature

Twitter May Soon Offer Auto-Translate Feature

by Charlie Jolly March 30, 2010 Twitter

Twitter’s language barrier may be about to come down: PCMag.com is reporting that the Twitter team may soon unveil an Auto-Translate feature for tweets.

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Thumbnail image for In America, Remakes Are In, Subtitles a No-No

In America, Remakes Are In, Subtitles a No-No

by Richard Brooks March 23, 2010 Entertainment

In the US, foreign language films don’t get subtitles, they get completely remade. At least, most of the time. US distributors tend to avoid films with subtitles like the box-office plague, although there have been a few notable exceptions over the years.

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Machine Translation Versus Human Translation: A Professional Weighs In

by Richard Brooks March 23, 2010 Machine Translation

Which is better, machine-powered translation or human-powered translation? In this weekend’s New York Times, David Bellos, the director of the Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication at Princeton University, weighs in. Bellos points out that  both machines and humans make mistakes in translation. While we like to joke about the fallacy of relying on a [...]

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Google New Translation App Brings Speech-to-Text Translation to Your Cell Phone

by Richard Brooks March 16, 2010 Machine Translation

Google’s new translation app aims to turn mobile phones that run on the Android operating system into universal translators. The app is capable of translating text written in one language into speech in another, and vice versa. So, for example, if you were in a foreign country and needed to find a bathroom, you could [...]

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Thumbnail image for Catalonia May Require Cinemas To Show Films In Catalan

Catalonia May Require Cinemas To Show Films In Catalan

by Charlie Jolly March 16, 2010 Entertainment

Catalonia, a region of Spain with its own distinct language and culture, is expected to require cinemas to begin showing more movies in Catalan. The bill is being passed at a time when Catalan is trying to emphasize and protect its unique cultural identity as immigrants flock to the region.

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Thumbnail image for Medical Interpreting Services Help Bridge Language Gaps In Some US Hospitals

Medical Interpreting Services Help Bridge Language Gaps In Some US Hospitals

by Charlie Jolly March 9, 2010 Interpreting

Hospitals naturally encounter patients who speak a cornucopia of different languages-far too many for them to have an interpreter on staff for each one. However, language barriers make it extremely difficult to treat patients.

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New Welsh Language Law Proposed

by Richard Brooks March 9, 2010 Politics

A new measure has been proposed in Wales to help encourage the use of the Welsh language there. According to the BBC, the new proposal, which was just published by the assembly government, has several key features. First, it would require some private sector companies to provide services in Welsh when requested by Welsh speakers. [...]

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Thumbnail image for Syllabary Keypad Developed for Cherokee Language

Syllabary Keypad Developed for Cherokee Language

by Richard Brooks March 3, 2010 Education

To help people communicate in Cherokee, the Cherokee Nation has developed a new Cherokee-specific computer keypad.The device makes it much easier for people to use computers to communicate in Cherokee.

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Thumbnail image for How Do Babies Learn Language? Apparently Not From “Baby Einstein”

How Do Babies Learn Language? Apparently Not From “Baby Einstein”

by Charlie Jolly March 2, 2010 Learning Languages

Can you teach your baby new words, maybe even make him smarter, by putting him in front of the television? That was the promise of the popular “Baby Einstein” videos-parents get a break.

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