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Tips & Advice

Are you Using “Utilize” Incorrectly?

Vocabulary is prone to a lot of change, evolution, and in some cases, simple misunderstanding. There are plenty of words that are used in everyday language that may not actually be appropriate or grammatically sound, but we accept the word—especially in casual conversation—because as long as it gets the point across, that’s the more important thing. But when it comes to more formal writing, such as for publication or instruction, we need to reach for and maintain a higher standard. Communication is, after all, about the transmission of ideas, and

November 25, 2015 No Comments

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Translation Is Not the Same as Interpretation

Conceptually, an Interpreter and a Translator share the same responsibility, which is to take the words of one language and render it in another so that it can be understood by an audience that is unfamiliar with the original language. Because of this, sometimes the terms interpreter and translator are interchanged, although it’s not actually correct to do that. While the general principle is the same, the actual mechanics and method between the two professions is quite different. The most obvious differentiator is medium. Interpreters work in real time with

November 18, 2015 No Comments

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How Translation Quality Assurance Works

Quality Assurance, better known as QA in most industries, is essentially a review editorial process. It is designed to look at work as it comes in, review all its components, and then render a judgement as to whether the product is failing to meet, meeting, or even exceeding the minimum level of acceptable standard for that field, product, or industry. In other words, the job of a QA team is to ensure that a good product or level of service is being produced. QA is important in everything from the

October 28, 2015 No Comments

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Punctuation Day Is Coming

On September 24, National Punctuation Day is going to be celebrated (sort of) in America once again, which should matter if you care about language. While it’s not going to be a holiday filled with people drinking festive beverages or kissing under exclamation points hanging over the door, it is a reminder to everyone that punctuation exists for a reason. Punctuation Day is a relatively recent day, having been conceived back in 2004 by Jeff Rubin, and it is a day that both celebrates the correct usage of punctuation in

September 30, 2015 No Comments

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Serious Games Need Fun Translation

Serious games are a relatively new genre to the game industry, but in many ways, these types of games are becoming more and more important not just to the companies that make them, but the audience they serve. Unlike regular video games, which are meant strictly to entertain, the “serious games” genre has education in mind. Serious games need creative translations Everyone knows that “learning by doing” is an effective teaching tool, and it’s become clear over the years that one of the great strengths of games is the interactive

September 29, 2015 No Comments

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The importance of proper punctuation

With the widespread use of texts, social media posts, and emails today, language usage is transforming. These types of communication tools encourage people to shorten phrases to acronyms, abbreviate words in new ways, and limit or even omit punctuation. While this saves keyboard strokes and character usage, it can end up causing embarrassing communication errors. Punctuation Can Give Words New Meaning Although it’s not a big deal to remove a period or shorten a word in order to save a character or two, other punctuation errors can end up being

September 21, 2015 No Comments

Tips & Advice

Google Translate Is Not Enough

The automation of so many complex processes in our world can sometimes give rise to a false sense of faith in what technology can do. Word processors, for example, eliminated the need for typewriter ribbon, paper waste, and even gave the world the “delete” key, which made writing easier, but didn’t mean that everyone could now become a great writer. In the same way, assisted focus, camera sensors that automatically adjust lighting, and the now infamous Photoshop software have made it easier to capture vivid, engaging photographic images, but it’s

August 26, 2015 No Comments

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Augmented Reality Is Coming & It Will Need Translation

The future always seems to be just around the corner, but one piece of science fiction is coming sooner than people might expect. While virtual reality is a phrase that’s been invoked often recently, promising the idea of exploring digital worlds, augmented reality is a counterpart in which the world we see and live in gets a little digital assistance. Early prototypes such as “Google Glass” and now Microsoft’s “HoloLens” have made great strides in bring this technology closer to the general public. Augmented reality is essentially a piece of

August 5, 2015 No Comments