Localization

Only a handful of blogs picked up on Google’s fresh Translator Toolkit, which the company launched yesterday by means of a blog post, but this new service really deserves a second look, if only because Wikimedia apparently sees the tool as something that could “change the way Wikipedia grows in other languages”.

You can read an extensive review of the product over at Google Blogoscoped, but here’s the gist:

Google Translator Kit enables anyone to upload documents for a variety of formats (HTML, Microsoft Word, Rich Text, OpenDocument Text and Plain Text), enter the URL for a file on the web or input a direct link to a Wikipedia article or Knol entry. After submission, the text that requires translation is automatically translated in the back-end and subsequently featured in a so-called ‘Workbench’, neatly placing the resulting text in the target language next to the original.

Interview with Paula Shannon.

From an early age, Paula Shannon was taught the importance of language from her mother and grandmother. After using her college education to combine her interest in linguistics with her computer science skills, she moved up the ranks at language firm Berlitz International. Now, Ms. Shannon, 49, is the top female executive at Lionbridge Technologies, a global firm based in Waltham, Mass., that provides international companies with translation services in over 100 languages, where she works with over 4,600 employees across 26 countries.

Full Name: Paula Shannon
Age: 49
Hometown: Baie d'Urfe, Quebec
First Job: A little shop on the water in Massachusetts that sold antiques and maritime curios in the front and lobsters in the back. I started when I was 15.
Favorite job: Current job.
Education: B.A. in Russian and German, minor in linguistics from McGill University
Years in current industry: 23
How I got here in 10 words or less: Never worried about taking detours and accepting lateral moves.

Q: You became interested in language at an early age. How did that happen?

A: We lived with my grandmother when I was young and she had the strong belief that you could go anywhere if you spoke properly. But it really started when I won a scholarship to be an exchange student in Belgium after high school. I lived with a family and was immersed in the day-to-day life of a student in the Dutch-speaking part of the country. When I came back to the U.S., I focused (my college major) on languages -- Spanish, German and Russian.

Q: What about language excited you?

A: I realized that I really had an ear for it. I also loved the experience of being dropped into the culture of Belgium without understanding a word and transforming over the course of the year. Also, being able to understand the beliefs, the culture and the jokes was so wonderful that I came back and knew that this was what I wanted to do. My personality almost changes with the different languages because of the cultural comprehension that goes with each one.

Read the rest: A Knack for Languages Evolves Into a Career - WSJ.com

"John, I am a user of Google Docs and I just lost all my documents. It wasn’t anything I did, just suddenly when I logged on this morning every single document was gone. Not the spreadsheets or presentations, just documents.

I get the error “Sorry! We are experiencing technical difficulties and cannot show all of your documents.” When I went into the Google Forums, it seems that at least three other people have posted this same problem. Only the documents are gone, nothing else.

Google hasn’t responded. Look, John, I am writing a friggin’ book (on software development) using Google Docs. Why am I doing this? Didn’t you warn us time and time again?

Please post this as soon as you can to warn other people. I never thought I’d be the one to say this, but cloud computing sucks, John. From now on, I’m going to edit my documents on my own laptop using Open Office and then upload to Google Docs only when I need to collaborate on something with my co-author. I guess I could still use Google Docs every day and then just back up to my laptop every single day, but what’s the point of that? I have over twenty chapters each in a separate file, so the backup takes forever.

Daryl Kulak"

» Is Google Docs Losing Documents? A Reader Laments. Dvorak Uncensored

Finally: 3-way marriage.

“After a decade of successful economic partnership, Locatech and CrossGap will merge into Jonckers Translation & Engineering. The three companies are the founding members of LCJ EEIG, a Microsoft Premier Vendor.

In a joint statement, Matthias Caesar, General Manager of Locatech, Michaela Schmelzer, Chief Executive Officer of CrossGap, and Marc Jonckers, founder and President of Jonckers, said: "The business opportunities opened up by our combined growth make the timing perfect for formal consolidation of the group's offerings. Building on our long history of working together in an economic partnership, we can take advantage of exponentially greater capital and investment opportunities as a single entity. Our customers will benefit from wider geographic coverage and deeper technological innovation. This merger is the logical next step for our companies, whose ultimate goal is to help our customers better achieve their international business objectives: today and tomorrow."

Locatech, CrossGap and Jonckers Announce Merge – MarketWatch

No comments, just wishing good luck with each other :)

After 6 years with Moravia Joe DiDamo joined Jonkers. I am not really surprised...

Moravia hired Diane McAveeney to replace him. A few years ago Diane worked at BGS, then she moved to small translation group at Big Bowne and made some career there. 

The "big news rumor" of the day is that Nic McMahon (VP GM Jonckers US) left LCJ and joined LIOX. I can't find a confirmation in media, but I trust my sources :)