From April 18-20 2012, the Polish city of Krakow hosted the 3^rd annual TMS Inspiration Days, a conference dealing with the application of new technologies in the realisation of translation projects and translation company management. Morgane MATHEOSSIAN, a Project Manager at ITC France, attended this event, which brought together participants from 18 different countries.

From April 18-20 2012, the Polish city of Krakow hosted the 3^rd annual TMS Inspiration Days, a conference dealing with the application of new technologies in the realisation of translation projects and translation company management. Morgane MATHEOSSIAN, a Project Manager at ITC France, attended this event, which brought together participants from 18 different countries.

Translation companies, software editors, consultants and research institutes were some of the many professions represented at the conference. This conference dealt with the topic of cutting-edge technologies used in the translation industry. Participants could choose between two discussion groups: “IT-oriented” or “business-oriented” groups, allowing them to opt for the topic of their choice. Among the numerous topics covered during the conference, participants could, for instance, learn about automatic translation, the “two masters” where projects managers have to serve, or the use of Translation Management Systems (TMS) to ensure a company’s success.

Apart from attending the various presentations, participants could take part in networking sessions, or test a translation project management tool developed by the company which organized the conference. Morgane therefore came back very satisfied from this conference “It is essential for a translation company to attend these types of conferences. It allows them to stay informed about the latest technologies used in their field, and attend interesting presentations given by big names in the translation industry. It is also an opportunity to meet colleagues as well as customers and potential providers. This conference definitely lived up to my expectations in that respect.”

In his latest video  My Valentine, Paul McCartney wanted to pay tribute to deaf and hard-of-hearing people. Johnny Depp and Nathalie Portman, two American actors, translated the lyrics of the song into sign language for the video  

In his latest video  My Valentine, Paul McCartney wanted to pay tribute to deaf and hard-of-hearing people. Johnny Depp and Nathalie Portman, two American actors, translated the lyrics of the song into sign language for the video  

This is a fantastic idea from Paul McCartney, a rarely used concept and above all a great tribute to the hearing-impaired.

Unfortunately, the translation of this very precise language was quite poor in quality and the videos riddled with translation errors.

For example, the verb “to appear” was translated with “stamp”, which is not even close to the same meaning…

And the song has no meaning anymore when the word “lovers” is translated with “enemy”.

The actors can be forgiven since sign language is extremely hard to translate.

It is not a universal language; it naturally develops among the various communities and evolves over time. However, two deaf people who don’t have the same language can communicate more easily than two people who speak different languages.

There are 17 versions of sign languages in the world and over 150,000 French people currently use sign language.

On Tuesday February 28, the ITC Global Translation Project Manager, Marine Gandit, took part in a translation professionals conference held by SDL, the world leader in global information management.

The aim of this conference was to teach new tool-mediated work options and encourage translators to use the new Studio 2011 software.

The conference was attended by an array of operators from the translation sector, including translations companies, freelance translators and SDL speakers. This was an opportunity to network, see presentations of new software and get briefings on a host of tool-mediated options. A mid-day meal was served to facilitate discussions.

Two off-shoots of the software were also presented: SDL Trados Studio GroupShare collaborative tool and SDL Passolo 2011. The main goal of the day was to encourage translation professionals to use Studio 2011 instead of Trados. This new software is more comprehensive and saves a significant amount of time both for the translation company and translators.

The 4L Trophy is an Adventure Race organized by Desertours.

The 4L Trophy is an Adventure Race organized by Desertours.

Its objective is to get people to meet and exchange, and more than 2,800 students from all over France will participate.

This year, the race will take place in Morocco over more than 375 miles.

The race also has humanitarian objectives such as bringing school supplies to Moroccan children. In partnership with the Enfants du Désert association located in Paris, the 4L Trophy helps send the most deprived children of Southern Morocco to school. The objective this year will be to send over 20,000 children to school in decent conditions.

The 2012 edition will take place from February 16^th to 26^th and will end in Marrakesh.

To help a 4th year student of a Lyon business school achieve his dream of participating in this race, ITC TRANSLATIONS has decided to sponsor Bertrand CARRET BONHOMME.

A gleaming Renault 4, desert tires, freeze-dried meals, tarpaulin for bivouacs etc. And lots of school supplies in the boot!

ITC TRANSLATIONS is delighted to support Bertrand throughout this race.

The entire team of ITC TRADUCTIONS wishes him the best of luck!

I’m here since one month now. And, this first month was interesting and rewarding. I have learned a lot, and have worked on different software in English language.

I’m able to write different articles in French and in English in order to publish it on the website. I have more and more tasks, and I more understand Allison Paxton my supervisor.

During this first month, I had improved a little my English and I hope to continue like this.

Regarding my personal experience, I visited Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach and yesterday I went to Miami South Beach. It was really amazing.

I can see a big difference in the architectural compared with France, and the weather, climate and atmosphere is better especially that in the same time in France, there it is 0 C°.

The only difficult thing is to find themselves far from my family and my friends, and it’s really difficult to move by bike in Florida.

Baptiste FROU

French intern

If someone suggested you take your next vacation in a part of the world where you didn’t understand the language, what would be your reaction? Fear? Intrigue? Panic? Excitement? Desperate queries about how much English the locals spoke?

Personally speaking, this idea has crossed my mind several times. It would make me nervous, sure, but there is also something irresistible about the allure of such a challenge. The closest I ever came was spending two months in Slovakia. So far all the languages I’ve studied have been western European, so there were very few similarities that I could use to help me understand a Slavic language. My first step was to download a language learning app for Slovak. It had pictures, said the word for each picture, showed it written, and showed the word in English to help the user understand the picture. Preparing myself with this app before arriving in the country helped a lot. Hearing and seeing the word helped me associate the picture with the Slovak word rather than the English one, and helped me associate the Slovak sounds to the letters in the word. To me, this is much more fun and effective than trying to memorize a list of words out of a phrasebook.

After arriving in the country, my first attempt to buy a cup of coffee went something like this: [reads menu item], two, please. Clumsy yes, but it was in the language and covered what needed to be said. It was much better and less insulting than assuming they would understand me in English. Also, making sure to know how to say ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ goes a long way. If they can see that a person is making an effort in their language and being polite, people are more likely to be patient and helpful. This helped me on a train to Germany once where the conductor spoke only German. Our conversation involved a lot of gesturing, ‘bitte’s, ‘danke’s and smiling, but we did manage to communicate, and the goodwill was clearly established.

Traveling to a foreign country can be a rich and rewarding experience. That becomes so much more true with some language preparation beforehand, and making an effort and politeness while there. It helps break down barriers and can be a great confidence boost to a visitor feeling a little out of their element.

Je t'aime, Te amo, Ich liebe Dich, I love you! Valentine’s Day around the World.

What began as a day of remembrance for a disobedient priest has bloomed into a yearly tradition stretching to the across the globe.

Back in third-century Rome, Emperor Claudius II banned marriage because he thought single men made better soldiers, one passionate priest named Valentine continued to wed young couples in secret. He was eventually imprisoned for defiance of the law. While in prison Valentine fell in love with woman who came to visit him. Before his death, the priest wrote her a letter--the first “valentine”.

Most of the world celebrates Valentine’s Day the same way, flowers, candy and a romantic meal. But in some corners of the globe they have their own unique traditions.

In Poland on Valentine’s Day couples give each other padlocks instead of roses to show their love. They fix padlocks to a bridge's railings and then throw away the keys in the river as a symbol their eternal love.

In Japan, Valentine's Day is celebrated on two different dates, February 14 and March 14. On the first date, the female gives a gift to the male and on the second date, known as White Day, the male has to return the gift he received on February 14. It appears Japanese women have the luxury of actually choosing their own gift!

Traditional Valentine's Day is celebrated in Taiwan on February 14, but there is also a special Valentine's Day on July 7 of the lunar calendar, based on an ancient Chinese folktale. Both dates are equally as important. Men purchase bouquets of roses for their sweethearts on these days. What makes this unique is that according to Taiwan tradition, the color and number of the roses holds much significance. For example, one red rose means "an only love," eleven roses means "a favorite," ninety-nine rose’s means "forever," and one hundred eight roses’ means "marry me."

Brazilians do not celebrate the day on Feb. 14, but on June 12. They call it Dia dos Namorados ("the day of lovers") in honor of Saint Anthony, patron saint of matchmaking and marriage.

Romanians celebrate love each year on Feb. 24, a holiday known as Dragobete (from the Romanian word drag, meaning dear). Romanians wear good-luck charms and exchange flowers with friends and loved ones.

People in China also have a day devoted to love but it is quite different from Valentine's Day as it is in other parts of the world. Chinese Valentine's Day fall on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month in the Chinese Calendar. Hence the day is also called as ‘Festival of the Double Sevens' or Qi Xi - ‘The Night of Sevens'. The other popular name for the Chinese Valentine's Day is ‘Seven Sister's Festival' and ‘Daughter's Festival'.

Hello everybody,

My name is Baptiste and I’m a french student at the business school IDRAC Lyon in second year. I must do an internship of six months aboard.

The last year, I have made a first training at ITC Traductions France during 4 months. I’ve meet Celine IMBAUD, ITC manager who propose to me to continue my internship for ITC during 5 months at USA.

It was a big opportunity for me. My english is not good and what’s better to improve his english in a translation company located in Florida?

I just arrived and my first impressions were very great.

The flight was very long, about 10 hours, but it’s worth it. I have left the France temperature about 4 degrees, to a temperature of 25 degrees.

The hardest part is the time difference of 6 hours. So, yesterday, I have stayed awake during 22 hours.

But, with a good first night in Florida, I can work today!

I will tell you more very soon about it!

The translation industry is mostly made up of individual freelancers working from their home offices. It is a solitary pursuit, which provides the essential focus and concentration for such a task. However the translation industry is an integrated network of such individuals, and that unity was displayed very well at the American Translators’ Association Annual Conference.

by Celine Imbaud

The translation industry is mostly made up of individual freelancers working from their home offices. It is a solitary pursuit, which provides the essential focus and concentration for such a task. However the translation industry is an integrated network of such individuals, and that unity was displayed very well at the American Translators’ Association Annual Conference.

This October, many of the industry’s professionals came together at the Marriott Copley Place in Boston MA, for four days of informative sessions, networking and language-related fun. Knowledgeable speakers presented sessions on topics specific to different language pairs and subject specialisms. There were also tutorials on the various tools used by professionals in this industry, from translation memory software to the up-and-coming cloud-based systems.

Networking events are always a great opportunity to catch up with other translators and meet new contacts. This is especially great for freelancers who do not have the benefit of regular interaction with office colleagues. It also gives agencies the chance to meet new qualified freelance translators to add to their networks, and freelancers can meet new clients. The Job Marketplace event at the conference provided a specific opportunity for this type of networking. Of course, it wasn’t all work and no play. There was an After Hours Café with an open mic for poetry reading, a Conference Dance, and even a yoga and dance exercise session to start the mornings energized.

People get into the translation industry because they are passionate about language. Since language goes hand in hand with culture, linguists tend to be globally-minded and are therefore eager to exchange with their colleagues from across the world. This kind of exchange helps us to learn more and fuels the passion.

New Year’s Eve celebrations are among the oldest and most universally observed. They generally include ceremonies which are expressive of death, invigoration and celebration over the renewal of life. In some countries, parties are thrown on New Year's Eve which last until the early hours of New Year's Day.

by Celine Imbaud

New Year’s Eve celebrations are among the oldest and most universally observed. They generally include ceremonies which are expressive of death, invigoration and celebration over the renewal of life. In some countries, parties are thrown on New Year's Eve which last until the early hours of New Year's Day.

In the United States it is traditional to watch the ball drop at midnight in New York City’s Times Square, toast it with Champaign and then celebrate in the company of friends and family. Many people make New Year’s resolutions...a list of decisions about how they will live during the coming year. Are you making any New Year’s resolutions?

How does the rest of the world celebrate? Here are some New Year’s Traditions from around the globe:

Spain - At midnight in Spain, Spaniards consume 12 grapes and try to consume all of them by the time the clock stops chiming.

Germany and Austria - Germans and Austrians pour lead as a tradition, which includes reading molten lead like tea leaves. The lead pieces are poured into a bowl filled with water, causing the lead to form shapes which predict what is going to happen in the New Year. If the lead forms a ball it means good luck, if it looks like an anchor it means you will need help in the New Year and if it’s a cross it means death.

South America - Residents all wear brightly colored underpants. Those who wear red are hoping for love in the New Year. Those who chose to wear yellow are wishing for money.

Denmark - Many Danish leap off chairs at midnight, hoping to ban all bad spirits in New Year. They also have a very loud and destructive way of celebrating the new year- they break dishes. People throw their old dishes on their friends’ doors on New Years and the one with the most dishes outside their door has the most friends.

Philippines - It is a tradition in the Philippines that Filipinos focus on all round things. They consume round fruits such as grapes and wear clothing with round shapes such as polka dots. The round shape reminds and celebrates the roundness of coins, as they hope for prosperity in the New Year.

Belarus - In Belarus (Western Europe), unmarried women compete at games of skill to determine who will get married first in the New Year. One game involves setting piles of corn and a rooster before each of the single ladies. Whichever pile the bird approaches first, is believed to be the one who is to be married first.

Ecuador - Usually when you burn someone’s picture it means bad break up. However in Ecuador, the fiesta includes all the locals gathering together with pictures that represent something you do not want in the New Year from the last year and burning it.

Puerto Rico - When it’s New Year’s Eve in Puerto Rico, they throw buckets of water out the window to “clean” the old year out. They also clean their homes and decorate them, as it is supposed to symbolize the “cleaning” of the spirit.

Kiribati- (UTC+14) is the first location in the world to welcome the New Year.