GTS Blog

Google announced that it is updating the user interface of its popular Google Translate program suite. Read about Google Translate’s shiny new coat of paint in the Google Translate blog.

The new UI is pretty and Google has added a new Do more with Google Translate page which explains all of the features that Google Translate has to offer. However, most of the features have been around for a while (like translated search, translation of chats, the translation widget, the Google Translator Toolkit). So its still the same house, just with a new coat of paint.

There is a lesson to be learned from Google for any of us who are developing products/services for the Internet: if you don’t have any new features to offer then rebrand your product, give it a new look, create some buzz around it. It’s working for Google!

One of the biggest stories to hit the localization industry this year was the IBM-Lionbridge deal which granted Lionbridge exclusive rights to offer Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based, text-to-text language automation solutions to commercial clients based on IBM’s Real Time Translation Service (RTTS) technology. You can read my first blog post about it here.

Since that dramatic announcement was made, Lionbridge has not provided the general public with much information on how they are planning to use this new technology. And in other industry news, SDL’s purchase of Language Weaver has cast a shadow on the Lionbridge deal.

But I did manage to find a wealth of information on IBM RTTS from the IBM website. This blog post will tell you some of the details I found: continue reading…

As if we needed another one. A new company which offers cheap, fast turnaround translations has emerged on the Internet. This company, TranslationZen, uses native speakers — who are not necessarily professional translators — to do the translation work. And the price is a bargain. Only US$0.067 per word.

How can they provide quality translations at such low prices? Simple answer: they can’t. Everyone knows the old saying: “you can only get 2 out of 3 (quality, price, speed).” At such low prices, and at such fast delivery times (they advertise delivery in up to 24 hours but don’t specify how much text they can deliver), the quality has to be lousy. Furthermore, using questionable talent from the crowd makes this an iffy proposition from the start.

I tried to obtain a quote from the website but got a message in every language pair that “The languages you selected are coming soon.” So it is unclear how ready the platform is and whether one can indeed order translation services from TranslationZen at this point in time.

TranslationZen is powered by ClowdCroud, a San Francisco Labor-as-a-Service startup. I read about it here.

We recently had a few projects for US clients that sell and distribute chemical products in Canada. As anyone in the business knows, chemical products must be shipped with labels and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) that meet the regulatory requirements in the target country. In Canada, MSDS and product labels must meet the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) hazard communication standard.

Preparing the MSDS and product labels to comply with the WHMIS standard is not rocket science and all the relevant information can be found on the relevant pages of the Health Canada website. Click here for a good starting point. All the information is easy to access and is written in understandable English.

Both the product labels and MSDS must be available in both English and Canadian French. That’s where you will need a translation company to help. Try and find a translation company with translators that have training in chemistry and specific experience in translation of MSDS in compliance with the WHMIS standard.  Here are some basic points to consider:

• Chemical safety labels must have both the English and French on the same label. Make sure that the appropriate WHMIS hazard symbols are displayed on the labels. Click here to read the relevant information on labeling requirements. Click here to see the hazard symbols of WHMIS.
• Converting your USA MSDS to Canadian format. The WHMIS standard is flexible in terms of the MSDS format. If your USA MSDS is in a 9-header OSHA format, that is acceptable. If your USA MSDS is in a 16-header ANSI format, that too is acceptable in Canada. Click here to access the relevant information. Before translating your MSDS, make sure to read the WHMIS requirement as adjustments and additions to the text will be required for compliance.
• MSDS must be provided in both English and French; however (unlike the labels) the MSDS do not have to be bilingual and you can provide a separate MSDS in each language.

If you need help in translating and preparing your MSDS for sales of chemical products to Canada, please call us for more information and a price quote.