MAGAZINE

#205 – July

10 Associations Tying Our Industry Together

No matter how good a person is at their job, there’s only so much time in the day to learn new work concepts, engage with stakeholders, and advance a career track. Everyone is stronger with a few friends in their corner. And for language and localization workers, a professional association or membership organization is just that — a friend in their corner.

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POSTEDITING

O

ne of the remarkable things about the language industry, whether it be on the buyer or supplier side, is its sense of conscientiousness. There’s a palpable desire among many businesses and organizations to leave a positive stamp on the world. And everyone pursues that noble effort in their own way.

We’ve seen how businesses have initiated substantial organizational change to reduce or eliminate their environmental impact. Equally impressive are projects to support marginalized communities and protect endangered languages.

This month’s magazine is filled with good examples of this dynamic. A team effort headed up by Motorola, for instance, is helping preserve indigenous languages by enshrining them in digital libraries. There are also the language association profiles covering organizations that provide invaluable services for professionals. And that’s just the beginning.

I hope you find some of these stories as inspirational as I do. And of course, regardless of where this magazine finds you, I hope you’re enjoying a healthy, happy, and contented summer. Until next time. 

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FEATURE

10 Associations Tying Our Industry Together

By Multilingual Staff 

No matter how good a person is at their job, there’s only so much time in the day to learn new work concepts, engage with stakeholders, and advance a career track. Everyone is stronger with a few friends in their corner. And for language and localization workers, a professional association or membership organization is just that — a friend in their corner.
The range of professional language organizations is as varied and dynamic as the profession itself. So too are the purposes they serve. Some provide training and certifications that give professionals the clout they need to win over and build trust with clients.

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Rallying For a Cause: The Fight to Preserve Indigenous Language

By Janine Oliveira, Juliana Rebelatto, Teddy Bengtsson

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in its proclamation of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, “Indigenous peoples are often isolated both politically and socially in the countries they live in, by the geographical location of their communities, their separate histories, cultures, languages and traditions. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the marginalization of indigenous peoples around the world, having a negative impact on the world’s linguistic diversity.

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Careless Localization: A Surprising Story 

By Dr. Keith Kahn-Harris

The art and science of branding has evolved. It’s developed to the point that most products we buy represent the culmination of uncountable hours of design work by dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people. The same is true for localization; adapting a product so that it can resonate with the needs and desires of consumers around the world is a herculean task.

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COLUMNS

INUKTITUT Inuit

Making the Most of Life Sciences Localization Resources

By Mark Shriner

Welcome back to The Lab, where we take a look at what’s cooking in life sciences localization. This month we are going to share some resources for linguists who are involved with translation and interpretation related to healthcare, pharma, medical devices, and clinical trials.
Translators of life sciences content are always concerned with the quality and accuracy of their work. People’s lives could depend on a care provider’s or a patient’s ability to understand content on important documents such as instructions for use (IFU) and other product-related descriptions and operating instructions.

INUKTITUT Inuit

It’s Not About What You Know But about WHO you know

By Sophie Solomon

As professionals, throughout our careers, we are called to go through multiple cycles of “job searching.” It is the accumulation of all these jobs, assignments, and missions that in the end constitute our professional journey. One key element in this process is the relationships and the connections we make along the way and how these relationships open the doors to new opportunities. Often, one’s network is the secret sauce for success or failure. Let’s be real: Relationships are a business currency. They are also your insurance policy for your professional future. Relationships open doors, and they do so because people do business with people.

INUKTITUT Inuit

The Pencil, the Printing Press, and the Future of Writing

By Tim Brookes

I’m at my desk, sketching in pencil. The project is an Endangered Alphabets sculpture that says, “The right to speak,” in the Osage script, developed by the Osage Nation between 2000 and 2020 to represent their language in a way that is legible, learnable, yet uniquely their own.
I’ve been emailed the phrase in the Osage language, printed it out, and want to transfer those characters to the wood.

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ANALYSIS

The Spanish of All Spanish Speakers

By Orly González Kahn

With 483 speakers in 21 countries — including in the United States, where 41 million people speak Spanish at home — Spanish is the second-largest native language spoken globally. That makes the question of how to approach Spanish an important one for any localization operation with global reach.

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The State of Hiring and Retaining Talent 

By Annette Hemera, Claire Brovender Liliedahl, and Marcia Sweezey

Everybody already knows that language services providers (LSPs) are growing rapidly, and like many industries today, there are more job openings in the localization industry than there are qualified people to fill them. We recently heard that there are two jobs for every unemployed person in the US. That alone carries a pretty big wow factor. Now, if only all those unemployed people had localization skills: production, engineering, sales. They’re needed everywhere.

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BOOK REVIEW

The Babel Message

Reviewed by Marjolein Groot Nibbelink

This book is about the safety warning (dubbed the “Message”) on a paper sheet (the “Manuscript”) inside Kinder Surprise Eggs — a chocolate treat for children. The writer’s unique sense of humor is immediately evident from the press release included in the parcel: “If you are one of the 75,000 people in Estonia who speak Võro, please find your press release overleaf.”

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BUYER’S GUIDE

BUYER’S GUIDE

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