Back from NY

I just came back from a week in NY : I have been invited by some French friends living there. He is freelance translator (English into French), she is project manager at Oracle. NY is really amazing! First time over there and even first time in the USA, big surprise therefore. I did appreciate a lot and spent a very good time. If I always said I would not like living in Paris, I think I may be ready to live in NY.

As far as translation is concerned, if you do not speak English or Spanish at least, you may have some understanding's problems (although the week I was there, you met French people every block ;-) For example, I bought a camera : you only have an English and a Spanish manual in the box, let's translate yourself the way to switch on!!! Nevermind, NY is a great city to see and I encourage everybody to go and visit it.

CAT tools and layout

CAT tools such as Trados or  DejaVu etc. allow translators to gain in productivity and quality, that is for sure! However, when you upload a quite complicated Word file into Trados, such as one containing links to tables or graphics for example, things are not as simple as we can imagine! Indeed, when translated, the Word file does not contain any links to anything anymore... Then, you have to make it back manually... Improve productivity, fine!... but as long as original layout is kept, that would be better ! CAT tools can still be improved...

Hey Marley, u ok?

We are not only a translation agency but we are also close to urban life ;-) No, I am kidding ! We have been asked to make translation tests for HAWK-CITY.COM  : they are refreshing their website and want to add an English, Spanish & Italian version. Big challenge for us ! We have to find translators, who know urban language & skating vocabulary as the target audience is young people between 12 and 16 year old. But we made it ! We are now waiting for customers' approval and see if we have won the RFQ ! Yeah !

Translation causes Renault shares to drop

A translation error caused a drop in France-based car maker Renault' shares. On Tuesday, the company issued a correction stating that 2006 European sales were expected to remain flat rather than "grow slightly" -- as an earlier statement had said. According to BusinessWeek Online, Renault blamed the discrepancy on a translation error.

Source: BusinessWeek

Meta : a translator's revue

I was looking for some translation topics on Internet when I found the META web site.
Meta is a revue dedicated to translation subjects. No matter if  you are an interpreter, a translator or any language specialized people, you are going to find an interesting topic to read.
The magazine is available in the electronic format.