Islamabad : Former Federal Secretary and a well-known man of letters, Muhammad Saleem Sethi has come up with a genuinely-crafted literary landmark, the Urdu translation and illustration of the famous Persian poet Fariduddin Attar’s long poem ‘Musibat Nama.’

The book gives a deep insight into the Sufis’ school of ‘Ishq’ which is commonly known as ‘Mysticism.’ It takes the readers to the less-trodden paths of human sufferings and man’s resilience in the face of ordeals. An undertone of curiosity always keeps the flame of spiritualism burning, says a press release.

In the interior parts of old Peshawar city, the Persian ‘kalam’ of Sheikh Saadi and Attar of Nishapur was read out and the family members used to sit silently and listen to the resonating Persian verses of great Iranian poets. It was that rich literary background that made Saleem Sethi undertake the gigantic task of translating Attar.

Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/

Full article: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1178091-literati-welcomes-urdu-translation-of-musibat-nama

• Bipartisan group supports addressing ‘strategic disadvantage’ and understanding adversaries who pose ‘serious threat to American national security’
• Open Translation Centre tasked with training analysts and linguists comes amid challenges getting accurate information out of China

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers introduced a bill on Thursday that would establish a research centre charged with creating publicly accessible English translations of open-source materials from China.

The initiative, to be known as the Open Translation Centre, would also train analysts and linguists to specialise in China and other countries, a full list of which will be determined later.

“The United States can’t afford to be in a position where our competitors know more about us than we know about them,” said Democratic congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas, the bill’s sponsor.

“For generations, Congress supported open-source translation programmes that helped Americans understand both our allies and our adversaries. As our investment in those programmes [has] declined, countries like China and Russia have accelerated their own – putting us at a strategic disadvantage,” he continued.

Source: https://www.scmp.com/?module=masthead&pgtype=article

Full article: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3258714/us-lawmakers-unveil-bill-set-research-centre-translating-open-source-materials-china

For the first time in history, a single language dominates global scientific communication. But the actual production of knowledge continues to be a multilingual enterprise.

The use of English as the norm poses challenges for scholars from regions where English is not widely spoken. They must decide whether to publish in English for global visibility, or publish in their native language to make their work accessible to local communities. And when they work in English, they end up expending more time and effort writing and revising papers than their native English-speaking peers.

As gatekeepers of scientific knowledge, academic publishers play a key role in helping or hindering the participation of a multilingual scientific community. So how are they doing?

Source: https://theconversation.com/global

Full article: https://theconversation.com/prestigious-journals-make-it-hard-for-scientists-who-dont-speak-english-to-get-published-and-we-all-lose-out-226225

As previously reported, “Machine translation (MT) and adjacent language technologies are driving industry-wide demand for natural language processing (NLP) engineers and machine learning researchers.”

However, as the same article pointed out, more traditional roles at various companies also need to be filled. So what skills are perceived to be the most important for these language-related positions?

Read on Slator.com

Paquet began his subtitle translation career by proofreading English translations and also sometimes co-translating with a Korean friend. “It was about ten years ago that I felt my Korean was at a level where I could do first drafts,” he said. “And even today I have a lot of people review my work.”

Translating subtitles is unlike any other kind of translation, says Pacquet. “The audience can hear the actors speaking, they can get a lot of emotion from the screen. The translation has to compliment that. I watch the performances really closely as I’m translating. It often feels like I’m translating a performance rather than text. You also have to be aware of issues like timing.”

Paquet is the author of New Korean cinema : breaking the waves, which covers the industry from the 1980s to 2000s. He wrote the book in 2009 and notes that one of the obvious ways the industry has changed since then is the increasing level of international interest.

But the biggest change might be the growing number of independent films now being produced in Korea. To celebrate those indie films Paquet founded the Wildflower Film Awards, an independent film festival.

“The independent sector is very dynamic,” he said. “Producing at least 100 features a year with some incredible acting performances. Exciting new talent comes out every year, but inevitably they get somewhat overlooked. This is a time each year when we can celebrate the achievements of these filmmakers.”

“Living in Korea I got to know a lot of directors,” he said. “Both through subtitle work but also as a journalist and at film festivals. Eventually, I came across a director who needed a foreign actor quite urgently, so I stepped into the part. So, when other directors saw that, they said, oh, Darcy. Whenever anyone needs an undemanding not-too-expensive foreign actor, they give me a call.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanmacdonald/2022/11/05/from-subtitles-to-indies-darcy-paquet-captures-the-best-of-korean-cinema/?sh=43970dd94c72

Beginning of July, Meta AI published an outstanding work: No Language Left Behind (NLLB). It presents a new translation model and datasets for 200 languages. This is a wonderful initiative that will definitely benefit many on the planet.

It is also a scientifically dubious work. In this article, I demonstrate that many of Meta AI claims made in NLLB are: unfounded, misleading, and the result of a deeply flawed evaluation. I will also show that, following Meta AI evaluation methodology, it is very easy to obtain even higher numbers than what they have reported.

Continue reading.

“Stranger Things evoked a lot of emotions this season — especially if you flipped on your subtitles setting. Those subtitles became a sensation among fans: [Tentacles undulating moistly], [wet footsteps squelch], [tense music intensifies] are as memorable as Vecna himself.

While Netflix’s recent efforts have enabled its creative writers to let as loose as they can on a 42-word-count line, all credit of the phonetic mastery of Stranger Things 4 goes to the show’s subtitle author Jeff T. (he preferred we not share his full last name) and his subtitle QA editor Karli Witkowska.”

https://www.vulture.com/2022/07/stranger-things-subtitles-captions-team-interview.html

As Deaf representation in film grows, we must ensure these movies are within reach.

https://www.34st.com/article/2022/04/sign-up-deaf-accessibility-mariella-satow-asl-sign-language-open-closed-captions-coda

Localization career development requires a strategic approach. The key to this approach for those who want to advance their careers, build teams, and work better cross-functionally is to be conscious and proactive in the way they demonstrate knowledge within their organizations.

At a recent workshop accompanying the launch of Smartling’s new e-book Pro Guide: How to Unleash Success in Your Localization Career, Localization Coach, Hristina Racheva outlined a career development strategy that all localization professionals will find useful.

Keep reading on Slator

I had wished to interview Robin Myers for a while now, particularly after reading her bilingual book Tener/Having and finding out that she had translated into English some of my favorite contemporary writers, including Isabel Zapata, Andrés Neuman, and Ave Barrera. My interest in meeting her only grew stronger when I discovered that she lived in Mexico City, where I grew up. Though we live in quite distant parts of the city, I feel like sharing the experience of living in this chaotic yet exceptionally effervescent place immediately made us neighbors, peers, and even accomplices.

Read the interview on Asymptote Journal

The enormous economic potential that emerging African markets represent for investors is often overlooked. The African economy in 2021 was around $2.7 trillion in nominal terms ⁠— $296 billion more than 2020 ⁠— calculated by taking figures from the IMF. This is $246b less than France’s GDP, the 7th largest economy in the world. Further, using Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a yardstick, a February article in Business Insider Africa listed the 10 largest African economies to invest in as of 2022. Those economies come with their own array of important African languages.

Continue reading on Multilingual

Researchers at Mass General Brigham, a hospital in Massachusetts, found that patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) admitted with Covid-19 had worse clinical outcomes during the first wave of the pandemic. However, outcomes improved during the second wave, demonstrating that efforts to minimize language-based healthcare disparities may have been effective.

Keep reading on Slator

Toppan Digital Language is among the most recent companies to expand with the acquisition of TranslateMedia, announced this Tuesday. For Christophe Djaouani, Toppan president, the company was an early standout as a great complement to their existing business. But no matter how good a fit, it’s no easy task to bring an acquisition to the finish line. Djaouani took some time this week to reflect on the journey with MultiLingual.

Keep reading on Multilingual

“Readers of My Hero Academia have been dying to know what Dabi actually thinks of Shoto Todoroki’s Half-Hot Half-Cold quirk, since it was what led to his father Endeavor abandoning him. While the fan-made translation includes a crucial metaphor that helps shine light on the truth, Viz‘s official translation completely ignored it and instead chooses a far less potent insult.”

https://screenrant.com/mha-351-my-hero-academia-dabi-translation-shoto/

“They just don’t make games like that anymore. I don’t think they ever really made games like that.”

Final Fantasy 12 is, for myself and countless others, a very special game. A bold, high production adventure that dared to toss aside the conventions of a well-loved series, and a snapshot of a formative time in the industry; just as it emerged from the enormous growth of the late 90s and before the big business of what followed would take hold, it’s a time when blockbuster games had just emerged from their adolescence but their heads were still full of grand ideas.

There’s a magic to Final Fantasy 12 that hasn’t dulled to this day, and returning to this week’s remaster happily proves that, love it or hate it, there’s been nothing quite like it ever since. I’ve already spoken a bit about the systems that make Final Fantasy 12 stand out, and I was recently given the chance to explore the other significant part of its charm; the world of Ivalice, and how a small team of translators added a dimension to one of the most remarkable video game localisations there’s ever been.

Continue reading on EuroGamer!

Elden Ring is an action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The game was directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki and made in collaboration with fantasy novelist, and creator of the Song of Ice and Fire saga, George R. R. Martin, who provided material for the game’s setting. After a long wait from eager fans, the game was released in February of 2022 with raving reviews.

As someone with over 100 hours into the game (at least by the time I’m writing this) and a long-time fan of From Software games, I’m officially hooked on exploring every inch of The Lands Between. You can only imagine how excited I was to learn more about the localization of the game, particularly the localization for Latin American Spanish – the language I’m using to play the game. Aside from Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, Elden Ring has been localized into 14 different languages, including two variations of Chinese, Thai, Korean, and most European languages.

In this article, I am thrilled to have a conversation with Marina Ilari and Guido Bindi who were part of the localization team led by GameScribes for Latin American Spanish for the game. Let’s dive into the interview!

Continue reading on Terra Localizations’ site.

THE SHIFT: Olena Davie, a Ukrainian interpreter based in the UK, reveals what her job involves and why her role is important.

Q: How and why did you become an interpreter and how long have you done it for?

A: I moved to Sunderland where my husband is from about 16 years ago and have been working as an interpreter since then. I’m originally from Ukraine and specialised in literature and foreign languages at university in Kyiv.

https://inews.co.uk/news/ukrainian-interpreter-ukraine-war-families-destitute-desperate-1524178

The wildly popular series Squid Game drew criticism for its English subtitles. Just how did those happen? (…) The practice of outsourcing sees TV stations, movie studios and streaming giants hire external subtitling vendors instead of using in-house subtitlers. The result is that funds trickle down from managers until employees at the bottom — the subtitlers — are left with the dregs.

https://www.cnet.com/news/features/inside-the-dying-art-of-subtitling/