Andrew Warner
Andrew Warner is a writer from Sacramento. He received his B.A. in linguistics and English from UCLA and is currently working toward an M.A. in applied linguistics at Columbia University. His writing has been published in Language Magazine, Sactown Magazine, and The Takeout.
Translating scientific jargon into Navajo
As the scientific community largely publishes in high-resource languages, languages like Navajo have been left behind, making it hard to translate scientific work adequately.
IIT Madras launches institute for AI and language technology
The institute aims to advance the development of language technology specializing in the local languages spoken throughout India, which have historically received less attention in artificial intelligence (AI) and language technology development than other languages like English or Chinese.
Deaf and hard-of-hearing patients file lawsuit against Washington healthcare provider
Instead of in-person interpreters, Providence St. Joseph Health often relied on VRI to communicate with patients — in several cases, however, lack of staff training and poor internet connection led to mishaps such as sudden, repeated disconnections and blurry video.
Following outcry, Google Translate removes offensive example phrase for Arabic entry
While brushing up on some Arabic vocabulary, one user pointed out that Google Translate’s entry for the Arabic word “تخطط” meaning “plan” was accompanied by an example phrase that means “planning to blow up the car.”
TikTok begins rolling out translation, updated transcription feature
TikTok is currently offering translations between nine languages: English, Mandarin, Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Korean, and Indonesian.
Song title translation on Spotify complicates search for users
Spotify recently addressed user concerns regarding the automatic translation of song names into English, making titles in languages such as Chinese particularly difficult to find on the platform.
BigScience launches open-source LLM, BLOOM
In developing BLOOM, the BigScience team set out to create an LLM that’s more accessible than any other major model to date. Unlike other LLMs, BLOOM is available to pretty much any individual or institution.
Creating a language access plan for an unwritten language
Translating a well-documented, widely spoken language is hard enough. Translating one that doesn’t even have a standardized writing system is even harder.
Turkish translators at Disney+ warned about translating “sensitive” topics
While the platform’s launch brought more than 1,000 movies and hundreds of TV shows to the country’s array of streaming options, subtitle translators have been warned to notify administrators upon coming across content that could offend the country’s leadership.
Squid Game makes history as first non-English nominee at the Emmys for outstanding drama
Squid Game, the subject of everyone’s favorite subtitling debate, has become the first non-English television series to receive a nomination for outstanding drama at the Emmy Awards.
EasyTyping.net launches to facilitate transliteration
A new translation and transliteration tool with a particular emphasis on Southeast Asian languages allows users to easily write in non-Latin scripts without the use of a different keyboard or settings.
ENCO acquires TranslateTV to improve efficiency of Spanish closed captioning
By acquiring TTV, ENCO’s leadership believes the company will be better suited to serve Spanish-speaking audiences by providing real-time translations of captions for English programming.
ATRAE president elaborates on open letter to Iyuno-SDI
In a statement to MultiLingual, Iris Permuy, president of ATRAE, elaborated on the open letter, which claimed that subtitlers and audiovisual translators face low rates and “appalling” work conditions that naturally lead to a decline in quality.
Meta reaches 200-language milestone in No Language Left Behind initiative
The announcement comes just a few months after the company announced that it would begin a project to develop a machine translation (MT) tool that can translate the majority of the world’s 7,000 or so languages.
Speechmatics raises $62 million in Series B for inclusive speech recognition
The startup claims to have developed the “most accurate and inclusive speech-to-text engine available,” noting that it is able to accurately transcribe speech from a wide range of unique dialects and accents more accurately than other major software.
One year after acquiring MT startup, Zoom launches translation feature
At the time of the acquisition, Zoom’s president of product and engineering said that MT would be the “key in enhancing our platform for Zoom customers across the globe.”
Illinois passes bill on interpreters in public school, effective immediately
As MultiLingual reported in April, Illinois is one of a couple of states throughout the United States that has been looking to improve language access in the school system for non-English-speaking parents.
Accent-translation startup raises $32 million in Series A
Sanas, a Palo Alto, CA-based technology startup, received $32 million in Series A funding, according to an announcement earlier this week.
Scots literary works and translation projects receive grants
Recent interest in the language has sparked efforts to publish literature in the language and use it in education, with the recent grants serving to enrich the language’s literary tradition.
Oregon’s healthcare interpreter law goes into effect next week
Beginning next week, non-English-speaking residents of Oregon will benefit from expanded language access measures in the state’s healthcare system.
House Bill 2359 (HB 2359) addresses...
Mapping cross-linguistic similarities with Lexibank
Inspired by databases that store genetic information, an interdisciplinary team of researchers has developed Lexibank — a database that aims to help shed light on the world’s linguistic diversity and language evolution.
$7 million in grants allocated to Native American languages
Earlier this week, 45 Native American tribes and tribal organizations received $7 million in funding for Indigenous language preservation efforts.
Rhode Island Superior Court rules to enhance education for English learners
Since 2016, advocacy groups in Rhode Island have been calling on the state’s Department of Education to provide English learners with a more specialized educational framework in accordance with the regulations of the state.
Mistranslated advertising hinders campaign for San Francisco’s Proposition A
Though Proposition A was backed by several powerful local politicians like Mayor London Breed, numerous mistranslations in the Spanish-language campaigning might have hurt its ability to resonate with Spanish-speaking voters.