Moving pictures: new tool claims to help build correct picto-translations

12 years ago - Katie Botkin on July 13, 2009

Blogos, Translation Technology

Edongba facilitates modern hieroglyph use.

Zmnsoft has released a Windows application allowing users to create documents and messages using Dongba hieroglyphs, the only hieroglyphic writing system still in use today. This ancient language is used by the Naxi people of Lijiang City, in China’s Yunnan Province, and is expressed in a combination of Dongba hieroglyphs and Geba symbols. The tool allows hieroglyph use in text editors, word processors and graphics programs, and a press release claims that the tool “makes it easy to select the proper symbols, and build messages.” This helpful translation tool appears to be limited to English-to-Dongba, and indeed the only purpose of the tool appears to be the novelty of word-processing hieroglyphs. The program’s Dongba font includes 1,561 Dongba hieroglyphs, 661 Geba scripts and a 50-character international phonetic alphabet for the Naxi language. The cost is $30, but if you’re just curious you can download the trial version from the Edongba website, which also has historical notes on the language.

Katie Botkin

+ posts

Katie Botkin, Editor-in-Chief at MultiLingual, has a background in linguistics and journalism. She began publishing "multilingual" newsletters at the age of 15, and went on to invest her college and post-graduate career in language learning, teaching and writing. She has extensive experience with niche American microcultures across the political spectrum.

Industry Events

	January 2021
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7 EUATC Webinar: GDPR & Personal Data in Translation Overview EUATC Webinar: GDPR & Personal Data in Translation Overview January 7, 2021 08:00 - 16:00 See more details •	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18 Test Event Test Event January 18, 2021 23:00 - 23:00 See more details •	19	20	21 Translation, Transcreation, Transadaptation and the Science Behind Them Translation, Transcreation, Transadaptation and the Science Behind Them January 21, 2021 07:45 - 16:00 See more details LocLife™ — Onward: Inspiring Perspectives from Loc Leaders LocLife™ — Onward: Inspiring Perspectives from Loc Leaders January 21, 2021 09:15 - 14:00 See more details [Live Webinar] Present and Future of Natural Language Generation (NLG) in the Localization Industry [Live Webinar] Present and Future of Natural Language Generation (NLG) in the Localization Industry January 21, 2021 13:00 - 16:00 See more details LinkedIn Localization Initiatives LinkedIn Localization Initiatives January 21, 2021 18:30 - 21:00 See more details 20th ITRI International Conference: The Roles and Identities of Interpreters and Translators in an Ever-Changing World 20th ITRI International Conference: The Roles and Identities of Interpreters and Translators in an Ever-Changing World January 21, 2021 23:00 - January 22, 2021 23:00 See more details • • • • •	22 20th ITRI International Conference: The Roles and Identities of Interpreters and Translators in an Ever-Changing World 20th ITRI International Conference: The Roles and Identities of Interpreters and Translators in an Ever-Changing World January 21, 2021 23:00 - January 22, 2021 23:00 See more details •	23	24
25	26	27 Slator Design Thinking Webinar \| Video On Demand Slator Design Thinking Webinar \| Video On Demand January 27, 2021 23:00 - 23:00 See more details •	28 [LIVE WEBINAR] Deep Adaptive in MT – closing the gap with human parity [LIVE WEBINAR] Deep Adaptive in MT – closing the gap with human parity January 28, 2021 13:00 - 16:00 See more details [LIVE WEBINAR] Deep Adaptive in MT – closing the gap with human parity [LIVE WEBINAR] Deep Adaptive in MT – closing the gap with human parity January 28, 2021 13:00 - 16:00 See more details [LIVE WEBINAR] Deep Adaptive in MT – closing the gap with human parity [LIVE WEBINAR] Deep Adaptive in MT – closing the gap with human parity January 28, 2021 13:00 - 16:00 See more details [LIVE WEBINAR] Deep Adaptive in MT – closing the gap with human parity [LIVE WEBINAR] Deep Adaptive in MT – closing the gap with human parity January 28, 2021 13:00 - 16:00 See more details • • • •	29	30	31