Translation and Language Industry Observations

Should you translate your corporate blog?

If you manage corporate communications for an international company, you understand the benefit of maintaining a corporate blog: increased e-reputation, more traffic to your website, promoting your expertise to new customers are just come of the benefits. But have you ever considered translating your corporate blog to promote your company internationally? What are the real …

How German Became the Money Language

Europe, being the epitome of the diverse ancient background, has twenty-four official languages, with German being the first, French second and Italian third. Europe also has more than 60 regional and minority languages. This undeniably powerful language, German, is challenging to learn but offers many benefits that other languages don’t. Some recent reports claim that …

Challenges in Multi-Language Translation Projects

At GTS we often get projects that require fast translation of texts into multiple languages. These projects can range from translation of Information for Use (IFU) for medical devices, instructions and labels for pharmaceutical products, press releases and technical bulletins. These projects are particularly challenging. There is time pressure on the one hand, and on …

Translator Queries? Good or Bad?

Having turned in thousands of translation jobs, we are experienced with all kinds of source texts. Sometimes the text is clearly understood and simple to translate. Sometimes we get text-from-hell which is riddled with mistakes and/or ambiguities. How should these occurrences be handled? It should be mentioned that as an online translation company, it is …

6 Korean YouTube Channels to Help You Learn Korean

South Korea has now become a top country many people want to visit. It’s the land of the exciting K-Pop, K-dramas, world-famous kimchi, 12-step skincare routine, tech giants Samsung – you name it. And if you plan to visit the country or simply just to feel even more connected with the culture, the Korean language …

Google launches new app to preserve endangered languages

A new Google application has been developed with the aim of preserving and teaching indigenous languages which are also endangered. This includes Maori, Creole, Yiddish, Yugambeh and others. The app is written in open source, and learning is done by photographing objects and translating them in real time. This was announced this week on the …

Top 7 Countries in the World for Digital Nomads

Digital nomads make the most of the interconnected modern world to make the entire world their office. Digital nomads typically work in fields such as computing or writing, where it’s possible to complete their work online and they have no need to be based in any fixed place. Topping the list of digital nomads are …

Translating for free. When a picture is worth 1,000 words.

Last week we received the following email from a potential customer. This is what he wrote: I hope that all is well. My name is Anthony and I lead our regulatory/compliance efforts at XYZ Parfums. We’re developing some new aftershave products, and need to have “aftershave” translated into a few different languages for packaging for …

Are Translation Companies a Good Investment?

I just came across an interesting article about Straker Translations, a large and well-known translation company. And I was surprised to read that Straker is losing money. Having owned a small translation business over the last years, I am wondering how a translation company can lose money year over year and still remain in business. …