Link: http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=22296071&gid=133157&trk=EML_anet_qa_ttle-dDhOon0JumNFomgJt7dBpSBA

From Pavel:
I would like to introduce to the translators community WikIdioms (www.wikidioms.com), the new project aimed at creating multi-lingual glossaries of different kinds. We have started with idiomatic expressions, thus the name.

One of the major challenges of translation is proper translation of collocations of different breeds: idiomatic expressions, phrasal verbs, fixed expressions, multi-word terms etc. WikIdioms is envisioned as an aid in this challenge. The following principles have guided the creation of the project:
* Translation by humans. With all the progress of MT, such delicate task as finding equivalents to multi-word expressions across the languages can be currently carried out only by humans translators. Our content is created solely by professional translators.
* Openness. The usage potential is endless. We are open to support new languages, new types of expressions, new professional domains etc.
* Focus. There are zillions of online references and translations aids, which provide tons of information, not all of which is really needed by the visitor. WikIdioms is not trying to flood the user with deluge of weakly related information. We give the equivalent of the sought term in the relevant language, c'est tous.

The project is young and this is the time to cooperate and contribute. First, you feedbacks are really welcome and important. Second, if you find the idea promising, you are welcome to partner with us, please answer privately. And third, welcome to WikIdioms and spread the word. >>

Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467304575383131592767868.html

New cognitive research suggests that language profoundly influences the way people see the world; a different sense of blame in Japanese and Spanish.

Do the languages we speak shape the way we think? Do they merely express thoughts, or do the structures in languages (without our knowledge or consent) shape the very thoughts we wish to express?

Learn more >>

Link: http://www.acfny.org/events/events-single/event/228/

THURSDAY JUL 01 - WEDNESDAY SEP 01

The Austrian Cultural Forum New York awards the "ACF TRANSLATION PRIZE" each year.

The prize supports translations of contemporary Austrian fiction and poetry that have preferably not appeared in English previously. For guidelines, please go to http://www.acfny.org/events/events-single/event/228/.

Applications are accepted between July 1 and September 1, 2010.

Thierry Royo (el. bass) playing with "Casa Mantequilla" (afro cuban soul funk) on Saturday, May 1st at 10 PM at a club called "The Underground Lounge."

The Underground Lounge

955 West End Ave (107th street)., New York, NY 10025
http://www.theundergroundnyc.com/

Link: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article7017831.ece

GOOGLE is developing software for the first phone capable of translating foreign languages almost instantly — like the Babel Fish in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

By building on existing technologies in voice recognition and automatic translation, Google hopes to have a basic system ready within a couple of years. If it works, it could eventually transform communication among speakers of the world’s 6,000-plus languages.

The company has already created an automatic system for translating text on computers, which is being honed by scanning millions of multi-lingual websites and documents. So far it covers 52 languages, adding Haitian Creole last week.

Google also has a voice recognition system that enables phone users to conduct web searches by speaking commands into their phones rather than typing them in.

Now it is working on combining the two technologies to produce software capable of understanding a caller’s voice and translating it into a synthetic equivalent in a foreign language. Like a professional human interpreter, the phone would analyse “packages” of speech, listening to the speaker until it understands the full meaning of words and phrases, before attempting translation. Read more >>