Most people automatically affiliate the word ‘Jaws’ with the man eating shark from the movies that chased down boats and water skiers alike. However, the JAWS referred to in this article actually helps people.

JAWS stands for Job Access with Speech, a software that uses speech synthesis technology to help the visually impaired enjoy numerous computer applications, programs, and even surf the web. The first version was released in 1989 by the American computer programmer Ted Hunter, who lost his sight in a car accident. That basic version has been updated immensely since then and now has windows support and even its own version of iTunes.

It’s nice to see technologies such as JAWS growing and getting more complex. Computers are one of our best sources of communication and should be available and easy to use for all.

Monterey Language Services watches the development of technology closely since it is such an important part of our work. In a way, the above-mentioned software localizes the computer programs for the blind. In this same spirit, Monterey Language Services offers software translation and localization services. We are currently working on a project to localize software into 14 different languages. In addition, we offer video-conferencing services for communication between two remote parties.

The blog team here at Monterey Language Services has a special place in our thoughts for endangered languages. Whether from Africa, Mexico, USA, or any country, we believe all languages should be preserved and remembered for the special place in time when they were the means of communication for a group of people. Language is what makes us unique, as well as what brings us together.

With that being said, we are sad to see that some languages are in fact going extinct. Google is doing their part as a worldwide service to provide these languages a lifeline:

As Google sees it, documenting the 3,000-plus languages that are on the verge of extinction — about half of all languages in the world — is an important step in preserving cultural diversity, honoring the knowledge of elders and empowering youth. And Google sees technology’s role in strengthening those efforts through research and collaboration.

This collaboration is through a website www.endangeredlanguages.com where people can upload the languages and share the most up-to-date information about them. An example is seen in the Miami-Illinois language, once spoken by Native American communities throughout the region. Although the last known person who spoke this language died in 1960, a contributor to the project is teaching himself the language through old documents. Because of this, children in Miami are now learning the language and even teaching it to each other.

If you know a language that is becoming extinct, post it in the comments or through the website and we will all do our best to preserve the language. Also, check out the video below to learn more about the project.

Information from: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/endangered-languages-project-supporting.html

Image from: http://www.endangeredlanguages.com

The UEFA Euro 2012 tournament is one of soccer’s biggest tournaments. First, all of the nations in Europe go through a qualification process, battling it out in groups until the top 16 teams emerge. When those teams are selected the tournament has officially begun, along with the necessary broadcasts to over 80 different countries around the world, including the United States!

However, we know that 80 different countries doesn’t necessarily mean 80 different languages. In order to reach the intended population the broadcasts have been translated in 203 different languages. This means the translators working the tournament have to be literally perfect, or else things could go horribly wrong as we saw after Croatia’s 3-1 win over the Republic of Ireland Last Sunday.

After the game Croatian striker Mario Mandzukic’s post-match commentary was translated to “I like to jump a lot, this is what I do best.” He then said, “We are jumping well, we are very motivated.” It’s safe to assume this was not what Mandzukic was trying to say. Now his words will be forever lost in translation, in the United States at least.

Now Euro 2012 is halfway through the quarter final stages, which means only a handful of matches remain. Do you think we will witness any more translation problems?

With video conferencing through Monterey Language Services, you experience high-definition video and high quality audio in a comfortable environment.

Last week, Monterey Language Services helped a client to interact with a court in the Midwest via video conferencing. In order to have a video conference with the court, we need to meet all their requirements.

Our professional video conferencing services include high-quality industry-standard equipment, conference rooms, privacy and security, fiber optic internet connection, IP-to-IP, and technical support.

Video conferencing programs such as Skype are everywhere, yet they don’t comply with the industry standards required by the court.

Check out our webpage: http://www.montereylanguages.com/video-conferencing-services.html

Triqui (de la baja) is an indigenous language spoken in Oaxacan Mexico. Because the area is increasingly dangerous and violent most native speakers will eventually not only leave the area but also leave the language behind with it.

There are an estimated 40,000 people who are fluent in Triqui worldwide. More than half of them no longer live in Oaxaca and around 10 percent of them live right next door in the Salinas Valley.

Although institutions like Monterey Language Services provide translation services in courts and hospitals, there is still worry that this rare language will not survive.  Any attempt to save a language will have to be in large numbers in order to succeed.

Barbara Hollenbach, who works with the Summer Institute of Linguistics, is working on a Triqui-Spanish dictionary with 6,000 entries. She believes this is a step in the right direction but says, “The only way to keep a language alive is oral transmission between generations.”

Source : http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/2012/jun/07/speaking-minds/

Note:

The picture, which shows traditional Triqui weaving patterns, is from one of our colleague’s private collection. The artwork was created by a Triqui artisan group here in our area of Monterey County.     

In our community, other languages indigenous to Oaxacan Mexico are spoken, including Mixteco, Zappotec, Chatino, & Nahuatl, etc. These languages need to be preserved as well.

Today, a hot topic around the world is environmental sustainability. The terms such as sustainable business, ethical business, resilient business, green business, conscious capitalism, collaborative consumption, sustainable brands… etc have been created to keep up with the new ways the business world explains their environmental endeavors. But exactly what do these terms mean?

How do translators deal with these terms? How do they communicate the newest information on the issue in terms that everyone can understand? How do you build a “green building” in Thailand without the building being painted green?

Freya Williams, a columnist from the Guardian Professional, noticed the miscommunication when she visited multiple business conferences.

“…the lack of alignment on a common [sustainable business] language can lead to meetings in which some participants are left wondering what exactly they are discussing, while others are talking at cross purposes, and some are trying express ideas for which a name may not yet exist.”

In a conference as such, interpreters/translators have to convey the same level of vagueness or specificity or pragmatism, as the situation may be. Translators have to recognize the term coined in the target language, which might tend to be a literal translation of the English term. Hence, translations to these concepts may be just as vague as expressed in the original language.

New words are made to keep up with the changing times, but not everyone is on the same page with these changes. Perhaps it’s time for the world community to work together on the definition of the new vocabulary, so everyone can truly understand and communicate in an environmental conference.

Info: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/blog/articulating-sustainability-language-green-business

Image: http://sustainablebusinessincubator.com/

The future of English is unclear, however, that won’t stop us from taking some educated guesses about what it could turn out to be.

First, it’s probably safe to say that our language will continue to not only evolve, but also continue to mix and meld with other languages. We’ve all heard the term “Spanglish” which is the slang word for the end product of someone attempting to speak one or the other, but then certain terms are replaced when the correct word is not known. Naturally, this is most commonly spoken in high school classrooms.

We think of this informal process of mixing languages as fun and games even though, realistically, other languages being smelt together with English is very likely. There are over 80 countries which have English listed as one of if not the only official language. Like most, English is not set in stone. New dialects and slang will continue to sprout and eventually “bridge the gap” between our English and other languages it comes in contact with.

Of course, no drastic changes are bound to appear for a while. Still, we will be able to see slight changes among the English language in our lifetimes. Each generation brings new words (Or old words with different meanings) to the table, which keeps us on our toes. One example of this we have all experienced can be found when taking a look at one of our most common forms of communication here in the states: text messaging. “LOL” is no longer an awkward sounding nonsense word; instead we see this is “Laughing Out Loud.” Others such as “BRB” for Be Right Back, “SMH” for Shaking My Head, and “OMW” which stands for On My Way, are all commonly used in texts between virtually anybody.

Part of what has caused English to evolve so much is its spread around the world.  The language’s diversity is shown by the existence of colloquial phrases such as the Jamaican “I and I” (meaning “we”), and “fixin’ to” (implying “planning to” or “about to”) in the southeastern United States.  In fact, certain letters and words have ended up with different pronunciations.  An example is the word “advertisement”: in England, the stress goes on the second syllable, but in the United States, it goes on the third syllable.  Also, when a word in English ends in an R sound, the R sound is replaced with a mid-central vowel sound (represented by the symbol ə) in much of the eastern United States, as well as in England and several former British colonies.

Some of the neologisms in English are based on people’s names.  Gerrymander comes from the name of a Massachusetts governor who redrew the state’s districts to favor his party in 1812, while the Diesel engine is named after its inventor.  More often, the doctrines and policies of particular statesmen lend their names to words ending in –ism, like Leninism and Thatcherism.

Sometimes, certain words in English can take on new meanings, whether alone or in combinations.  This occurs often in popular culture, as shown by the music genres blues, folk and rock ‘n’ roll, along with the movie genres comedy and horror.

Clearly, this tongue that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England is now one of the ultimate mixtures in the world, and simply continues to evolve.  In fact, many languages have entities that regulate them, such as the Bangla Academy, which regulates Bengali; English has no official regulation.  In a way, English is no longer a sufficient name for the language.  It nowadays needs a name that emphasizes its fascinating mélange of words from around the world.

English is quite possibly the most dynamic language in the world today.  This is due in part to the immigration into Anglophone countries, which has introduced countless new words, and partly to the Norman conquest of England in 1066, which altered English to make it a little bit more like the Romance languages (especially French).  Nowadays, this hybrid of Germanic, Norse and Romance languages is the first language of over 300 million people worldwide.

An example of the evolution of English can be seen in the spellings of words in Anglo-Saxon, also called Old English.  The following passage from the epic poem Beowulf is an example:

Hwæt! wē Gār-Dena in ġeār-dagum,
þēod-cyninga, þrym ġefrūnon

The words hwæt, dagum and cyninga translate to the Modern English words what, day and king, except that certain letters of course changed.  In fact, there are letters that disappeared entirely from English.  Two such letters in the passage above are æ (ash) and þ (thorn), but others include ð (eth) and ƿ (wynn).  Over time, these letters were replaced with other letters.  For example, “th” represents all interdental sounds in English.

Another notable change in English occurred in verb conjugations.  Until the 1600s, the second-person singular pronoun was thou, with the verb conjugation –(e)st, as in thou knowest.  Then, the pronoun and its conjugation were dropped from English and replaced by you, although it still appears in religious texts and in the works of Shakespeare.

English has evolved since it first arose.  It is classified as a Germanic language, and of course maintains a number of Germanic root words, like gold.  But the language also acquired words like happy from Norse, words like nation from Latin, words like hyperbole from Greek, and words like algebra from Arabic.  During the 20th century, the language added Bolshevik from Russian and mahatma from Sanskrit, in addition to the names of numerous kinds of foods from different cultures.

The language English initially started to develop during the fifth century. Since its initial development, there have been four different variations of the English Language: Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English and Late Modern English.

The English language spoken today is Late Modern English. Over the years English has evolved very much so in its vocabulary. Many words have been added to the language because of the Industrial Revolution and as technology has developed. Also, since the British Empire had so many colonies spread throughout the world the language adopted many words from other foreign languages.

It is particularly interesting when looking at how many different varieties of English there are. Some variations include Australian English, Canadian English, South African English and American English.

Although it may be difficult to clearly identify different variations. At the end of the day, it is all English, each with its own unique twist.