Business

Columns and Commentary

Off the Map: Viva la geopolítica
Tom Edwards
I sometimes get the impression from friends and colleagues that Latin America is perceived as this benign locale into which any geopolitical product can be sold. If I ask them to name a "disputed area" or a contentious cultural issue ...

World Savvy: Flag frenzy
John Freivalds
In the 1960s, Occidental Petroleum was trying to get a concession to explore for oil in Libya. The negotiations were difficult, and Occidental, not yet a big player in the oil market, was up against some tough competition from the oil majors ...

The Business Side: Career paths into globalization
Adam Asnes
Software globalization is a fascinating career as there are so many different facets to it, and the challenges vary from project to project. I'm speaking of all the aspects of software globalization, from localization to internationalization ...

Perspectives: Client-centered marketing
Susan Remkus
You've heard it before: We don't need to understand how electricity works; we merely want the light to go on when we flip the switch. In other words, we want the results we expect. We want to know the light will go on every time ...

Perspectives: Work-based LSP business models
Jessica Roland
Over the past couple of years, there have been discussions in the localization industry about how the current business model for language service providers (LSPs) is not working. At Localization World in Seattle 2007, a prominent software company ...

Takeaway: Reducing cost by reducing words
Ken Behan
One of my sales team knocks on my door, requests two minutes of my time, and says he has this huge sales opportunity. Would it be possible to reduce the word rate by a few cents to make the deal more attractive to his prospect? ...

Region Focus

Current financial crisis and Latin American translation
Teddy Bengtsson
In the current global financial crisis, Latin America has at least one advantage over most parts of the world. Crisis mode is the norm, rather than the exception, and presumably this means that people here consider what is happening ...

Latin America's growing localization power
Fabiano Cid
The world economy as a whole and our industry in particular create opportunities for the birth of a true regional localization power in Latin America. With attractive prices, geography, economy and resources ...

Toward a unified Portuguese spelling
Marco S. de Pinto
Anyone who has been in contact with a language's early literature will come to the conclusion that languages are dynamic; they do not stay the same. That is why we cannot read The Canterbury Tales in Middle English without ...

Linguistic purism in Latin American Spanish
Nataly Kelly
While Spanish and Portuguese are the most widely spoken tongues of Latin America, the region is also home to between 550 and 700 languages spread among an estimated 56 language families. Many of these languages are indigenous to the ...

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