The translation industry is unregulated in many countries. Translators can claim they are professionals and provide their services. For a translation buyer, this becomes a potential risk. How do you know if you’re working with a true professional?   International Quality Standards in Translation Services The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an international standard-setting …

Why translation providers should be ISO certified Read more

Computer-aided translation (CAT) is the use of software to assist human translators during the translation process. The translation is created by a human, and certain aspects of the process are facilitated by software – specifically the actual translation process itself… How CAT tools work Most CAT tools can translate a variety of source file formats in …

What is a CAT tool? Why to use it? Read more

Quality assurance (QA) is a way of preventing mistakes, defects, and avoiding problems when delivering services to customers. It is the systematic measurement, comparison with a standard, monitoring of processes and an associated feedback loop that confers error prevention. ISO 9000 defines QA as “part of quality management focused on providing confidence that quality requirements will be fulfilled”. …

Why is Translation Quality Assurance (QA) important? Read more

Turkish is predominantly used in Turkey and Cyprus. It has approximately 63 million speakers many of which can also be found in Greece, Bulgaria and other parts of Eastern Europe. Modern Turkish language has been highly influenced by Ottoman Turkish and has expanded as the Ottoman Empire grew. Turkish is also spoken by several million immigrants in …

Language facts: Turkish Read more

Just like a human being posesses personality and body language, every company has also developed its unique language and style of communication. But to spread a consistent message and the same “feeling” about your company in global terms, you also need to define your company language and transfer its details and nuances into a clear set of …

Consistency in Multilingual Content: Using Style Guides Read more

Now that we have your attention, don’t worry – your translation memories are valuable investments that definitely make your translation projects cheaper, faster and more accurate. But there are situations when translation memory can actually mess up a translation instead of making it easier – such as minor updates of DTP files updates where most translated …

Translation memory is old news! Read more

Neural machine translation (NMT) uses machine learning and an artificial neural network to perform language translation. It predicts the likelihood of a sequence of words, typically modeling entire sentences in a single integrated model. Let’s deep dive into NMT and how it can streamline translation processes. How neural machine translation works Neural machine translation (NMT) automatically converts …

What is Neural Machine Translation (NMT)? Read more

Latin is the official language of the Vatican City. It derives from the Indo-European branch, from which Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian originate. Although it was spoken in the Mediterranean area, it also influenced the Germanic languages and is currently used in many abbreviations (“e.g.” was an example derived from the Latin “exempli gratia” and …

Language facts: Latin Read more

Lately, we introduced a little provocative thought that translation memory, in fact, is not the best or the most accurate means to use if you are about to update an old translated documents with new additions (such as catalogs, manuals, or guidelines – basically materials with a good share of repetitive and already translated text …

Why to update files without translation memory Read more

On November 26th, the 25th JTF Translation Festival in Tokyo took place – and we were of course there to present our new services, get inspired and attend panel discussions and presentations revealing new perspectives in the translation industry. This year, the flagship of idioma was our revamped online estimator Stream that became a part of our new complex …

25th JTF Translation festival: DTP files updates without translation memory Read more

Translation Memory products constitute an excellent aid for translators and help them to translate bigger volumes in less time. However, there are dangers with using such products also. Poor memories is one thing, but translator fatigues is another that can lead to serious issues and very unhappy clients, especially when working with fuzzy matches. Some of the …

Translation tips: Opposite translation Read more

What is Technical Translation? Technical translation is specialized translation involving the translation of documents (owner’s manuals, user guides, etc.), which relate to various technological fields. The texts typically consist of scientific and technological information. Technical translation requires a high level of subject knowledge and mastery of the relevant terminology and writing conventions. Having knowledge of …

What is Technical Translation? Read more

Ukrainian is the state language of Ukraine, the national language of Ukrainians. It belongs to the Slavic languages (the Eastern-Slavic group), being a part of the Indo-European language family, and is currently emerging from a long period of decline. The total number of the Ukrainian speaking population is estimated to around 39 million people. Ukrainian …

Language facts: Ukrainian Read more

Autumn in Japan is a beautiful time with leaves on the trees changing color and a lot of crops ripe and ready for use in the famous seasonal Japanese cuisine. People enjoy going out during this time of the year to enjoy the cool, crisp weather and attractive vistas. The autumn weather is also perfect …

Autumn In Japan: The Season Of Sports Read more

A translation management system (TMS) is a type of software for automating the human language translation process. TMS are designed to support and coordinate translation projects. This includes project management, workflow management, translation memory (TM) management, invoicing, data storage and other various features to assist project managers, translators, and enterprises. The idea of a TMS …

What is a Translation Management System (TMS)? Read more

Persian – also known as Farsi, although this term is considered as incorrect by many academics – is an Indo-European language of the Indo-Iranian branch. Persian and its varieties have official-language status in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. And Farsi has been called Dari in Afghanistan, due to political reasons only. Historically Persian (as a direct …

Language facts: Persian Read more

Arabic belongs to the Afroasiatic language family and is a Semitic language of the Arabo-Canaanite subgroup – therefore closely related to Hebrew or Phoenician. With approximately 290 million speakers (of Modern Standard Arabic), it ranks in sixth place among the world’s major languages. In today’s form, Modern Standard Arabic happens to be an official language of 27 states. …

Language facts: Arabic Read more

If you have ever been involved in the content translation process in your company, you are surely familiar with Translation Memories (TMs). And if you are not, you really should be, as TMs are your way to less stress, less overtime work, possibly even a promotion or other reward thanks to reducing your company’s translation …

TM HEALTH CHECK™: 4 Steps to Updated Translation Memories: Read more

In our previous blogs, we emphasized the advantages of having well-maintained translation resources, which reduce your translation costs, mainly in connection with continuous translation undertakings. We have also touched on the process of “cleaning” and maintaining your translation memories, but what if you don’t have any? If that’s the case, you should definitely create one if you …

Translation Memory Creation: How It Works Read more

Hebrew is a Semitic language and belongs to the Afroasiatic language family. Biblical Hebrew is closely related to Arabic and Aramaic, which are spoken around the territory where many of the biblical stories are focused – the Middle East. Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, along with Arabic. Modern Hebrew …

Language facts: Hebrew Read more

Machine Translation Post-Editing (MTPE) is the process whereby humans edit machine translated text. Translators are commonly called a post-editor who handle this language editing process. Post-editing involves the correction of machine translation output to ensure that it meets a level of quality negotiated in advance between the client and the post-editor. The concept of post-editing …

What is Machine Translation Post-Editing (MTPE)? Read more

German is the official language of Germany and Austria and one of the official languages of Switzerland and Belgium, as well as an official language of the European Union and the European Commission. It is used by more than 100 million speakers and belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages. Apart from Standard German …

Language facts: German Read more

Latvian is the official state language of Latvia and an official EU language. There are about 1.5 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. Latvian is one of the two living languages of the Balts (the other being Lithuanian), a group of its own within the Indo-European language family. Latvian is an inflective …

Language facts: Latvian Read more

As strange as the headline sounds, this particular issue has amused Czech and Slovak internet readers for several days now. As informed by Czech news portal iDnes.cz, the official web site for promoting tourism in South Moravia Region www.jizni-morava.cz relied on machine (read Google) translation to localize the content into seven languages including English, German, Russian, Slovak, Polish, Italian …

When machine translation turns UNESCO heritage into “Refrigerator” Read more

By November 2016, something happened to the most used open machine translation platform, Google Translate. Users around the globe – mainly those translating in combinations of English to Chinese, Spanish, French, Japanese, German, Korean, Portuguese and Turkish – have noticed a major improvement in the machine translation results which suddenly translated whole sentences, worked with …

Machine translation in 2017: It’s getting neural Read more

Standard Hindi, also known as Modern Hindi, is mutually intelligible with Urdu, another Indian language. Hindi is the official language in India and has borrowed its vocabulary heavily from Sanskrit. Hindi has close to 500 million speakers including Hindi dialects (41% of the population in India) which makes it the 4th largest language of the world, after Chinese, Spanish, and English. Language …

Language facts: Hindi Read more

Norwegian is a Scandinavian language and a branch of the Germanic languages that has slightly more than 4 million native speakers. Two standard varieties of Norwegian exist, Bokmål and Nynorsk (literally “new Norwegian”). Nynorsk is used primarily in the western regions and is spoken by around 0.5 million people. Bokmål is used by the rest of Norway …

Language facts: Norwegian Read more

French is a Romance language spoken by 65 to 80 million people around the world as a native language, and by an additional 200 million or so people as a second or third language. Most native speakers of the language live in France, while most of the rest live in Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Francophone Africa, …

Language facts: French Read more

  Scandinavia is well-known for its highly innovative and progressive approach to society and development as a whole, as well its industry. Nordic countries (Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland) are leaders in what is called the green industry. In fact, out of the top 5 eco innovators in the European Union, three of them are …

Why innovative manufacturers should translate their sales material into Scandinavian languages Read more

Finnish is a member of the Finno-Ugric language family (Uralic languages) and is closely related to Estonian and Saami (also known as Lapp). It is one of the two official languages in Finland (the other being Swedish) as well as one of the official EU languages. Additionally, it is used by Finnish-speaking minorities in Sweden …

Language facts: Finnish Read more

Romanian is a Romance language, primarily used in Romania and also Moldova, being an official language in both countries, as well as of the European union. It is closely related to other Latin languages, such as Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian, and evolved from Vulgar Latin. It is also related and very similar to Moldavian …

Language facts: Romanian Read more

DMS is Japan’s largest exhibition gathering all kinds of IT solution providers and attracting professionals looking to buy IT solutions for their business. This year, the number of exhibitors is expected to reach 2,600. At our booth we are planning to exhibit our various translation services, latest trends in technical translation, and introduce our 3 …

idioma @ the 29th Design Engineering & Manufacturing Solutions Expo (DMS) in Tokyo Read more

Indeed, both translation suppliers, as well as clients of translation services providers have vastly different views on the issue of the desired versus feasible speed of professional translation and localization. While it’s not easy to answer the headline question in a one-liner, let’s try to break it down. Basically, the translated content’s nature speaks for itself. Usually, the more …

Translation tips: What is the optimal translation speed? Read more

To begin with, it is interesting to know that according to the Instituto Cervantes’ study, there is actually more Spanish speakers in the USA than in Spain itself. Wow! With more than 40 million native speakers and 11 million bilinguals (mostly children of Spanish-speaking immigrants), the USA is, in fact, the world’s second largest Spanish-speaking country, right after Mexico. For …

Language facts: US Spanish Read more

Serbian is a member of the South Slavic group of languages and is the official language of Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. There are about 6.5 million speakers of the language in Serbia, and also 500,000 speakers in Montenegro plus 1.6 million speakers in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Serbian is also recognized as a minority language in Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Czechia …

Language facts: Serbian Read more

At the end of June, both the Japanese and European sales teams of idioma went out to the world to talk about our translation services. idioma @ DMS 2018 in Tokyo Our Japanese sales team managed our booth at the 29th Design Engineering & Manufacturing Solutions Expo (DMS) in Tokyo. Held inside Manufacturing World Japan 2018, …

REPORT: idioma @ DMS 2018 in Tokyo and Automatica 2018 in Munich Read more

On May 17th, 2017, our Prague office and production center, together with its office in Tokyo, was certified for its quality management system as being compliant with the extensive requirements in the ISO 9001:2016 standard. The certificate was awarded by the local Czech subsidiary of the TÜV SÜD accreditation body. This award affirms idioma’s high …

idioma earns ISO 9001:2016 Certification by TÜV SÜD Read more

Bosnian is a variant of Serbo–Croatian. It is the official language in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Montenegro and a native language of a little over 2 million people. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina officially has three languages: Bosnian, Croatian and Serb. All three languages are mutually understandable. For various reasons, Bosnian is in …

Language facts: Bosnian Read more

Many interested visitors stopped by at the idioma booth with an interest in effective overseas development. Quite a few admitted they had experienced difficulties in translation and localization. idioma representatives were happy to help potential buyers with our tailor-made solutions. All in all, idioma’s presence at DMS Tokyo 2017 was a big success, which motivated us …

What was it like at DMS Tokyo 2017 Read more

Tamil is spoken in southern India, Sri Lanka and Singapore and by many migrant groups in Malaysia, South Africa, and even Canada, USA and parts of West Europe. It is the official language in Sri Lanka, the south Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Puducherry, with around 85 million native speakers. …

Language facts: Tamil Read more

In the translation industry, a glossary is basically a list of specific terminology that helps to ensure consistency in translation. Every language, every industry and even your very own company use specific expressions that need to be addressed and used properly in order to give your translated documents the right meaning. Additionally, glossary creation together …

Apply your company language: Build a glossary Read more

Flemish, or Vlaams in Dutch, is the standard Dutch variant spoken in the Belgian region of Flanders by around 6.1 million speakers, sometimes also referred to as Southern Dutch. It includes several dialects, all of which (depending on who you ask) are interrelated with the southwestern dialects of Dutch. Differences between Flemish and Dutch Flemish, or Vlaams, is actually highly similar …

Language facts: Flemish Read more

Dutch is a West Germanic language primarily used in the Benelux region and an official EU language. It is closely related to other West Germanic languages (e.g., English, West Frisian and German) and somewhat more remotely to the North Germanic languages. Because of former ownership of colonies on the African continent, Dutch has considerably influenced Afrikaans, one …

Language facts: Dutch Read more

A golden plate with errors The map to potential errors after a translation project is finished is a Comprehensive Aftercare report – at idioma, we will be happy to issue such reports for projects we handle. These reports will tell you why we have dismissed glossar proposals (usually because of content), why a fuzzy match was …

Navigating the translation mine field Read more

What an emoji translator does for a living Businesses who target younger consumers obviously tend to customize their content to the likes of their potential buyers. The increasing business usage of emojis is visible mainly on social media, delivered by administrators of an age similar to the targeted customers. Emojis are, after all, very simple …

Emoji translation: New field in the localization industry? Read more

Uyghur belongs to the Turkic language family and is derived from Old Turkic language with its origins in Mongolia and Xinjiang. This is the autonomous territory in northwest China, sometimes also referred to as East Turkestan, or Uyghurstan (although actively discouraged by Chinese government), in historical context even Moghulistan – the land of Mongols where the …

Language facts: Uyghur Read more

Company terminology pushed through an entire enterprise, including all business communication, should be organized, saved, and continuously updated – and all crucial terms in your working language as well as all other languages your work in should end up in one or more Company-level glossaries (click here to learn more about why you need a …

5 Facts to Glossary Use in Translation Read more

Irish is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family. It originates in Ireland, and was historically spoken by the Irish, but today only a small part of the population speaks the language. Irish has status as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland, it was voted an official language of …

Language facts: Irish Read more

  It’s been a long time since translation involved a typewriter, a printed dictionary and very skilled translator. The process of translation, as well its quality standards are taking leaps and bounds forward thanks to modern technology. Today’s advanced language service providers (LSPs) utilizing computer-assisted translation tools (so-called CAT tools) have turned translation from a one-off, …

Benefit from a long-term translation relationship Read more

Hmm, this being 2016 and an election campaign in the Americas in full swing, like many others we also want to emphasize the importance of good glossaries to get statements right and avoid blunders. Built rightly, glossaries help the “poor” translator and others to adhere to preferred terminology, and they prevent use of synonymous terms …

Liability in Translation: “Glossary, glossary, glossary” Read more

Quality is one of the most crucial factors within the translation industry. Responsible providers not only know that high translation quality is an ongoing sales pitch, but that the perception of quality throughout the entire industry is important for all players involved. The evolution of machine translation (MT) is a game-changer in how the industry …

ISO 18587: What it means for translation providers Read more

Khmer, also known as Cambodian, is an Austro-Asiatic language and it is the official language of Cambodia. Khmer is spoken by 15 million native speakers, 12.6 million of whom live in Cambodia. As old as the Khmer empire Khmer has been influenced by Sanskrit and Pali through Hinduism and Buddhism as well as the Southeast Asian languages …

Language facts: Khmer Read more

  We would like to thank everyone for visiting our booth at the JTF Translation Festival 2017 in Tokyo on November 29. idioma introduced its core ISO:17100, ISO:9001 and ISO:18587 certified translation services. We enjoyed meeting you and were happy to greet visitors, both new and old, some of whom we haven’t seen in a while.   Please do …

Thank you for meeting idioma @ 27th JTF Translation Festival in Tokyo Read more

Most people agree that the World Wide Web has become such a convenient tool that most of us now take for granted. For most of today’s prosperous businesses, it is also a powerful sales tool in particular to those who aim to expand internationally. Speaking the language of your target market and potential customers is …

Website Localization: Machine or Human? Read more

Korean is one of the Far East Asian languages, but is a so-called “language isolate” and the only remaining member of the Koreanic language family (all relative languages have been long extinct). Korean has around 80 million native speakers, and it is the official language in both South and North Korea and also one of the official languages of …

Language facts: Korean Read more

Ever wondered what makes global brands successful? Well, it’s actually many factors, but to name just a few, let’s go for authenticity, consistency and professionalism. These are “those things” that sometimes induce nightmares to marketers, but make people willing to convert into (loyal) customers. On the other hand, business is primarily about making money, and …

How to drown your brand in one click Read more

Attending international trade fairs or exhibitions is stressful, especially if you want to push a small or mid-sized company onto an international scene – not just for the staff involved, but also for your promotion as well as your localization budget (= how you tell people in another language want you are doing and want …

How to communicate at international exhibitions #2: Localize your channels Read more

Hungarian (Magyar) is an official EU language and has about 14.5 million native speakers, mostly in Hungary and the diaspora – mainly in seven neighboring countries (e.g. Romania, Serbia, Ukraine or Slovakia, the latter where Hungarian even has a status of second language in the areas inhabited by Hungarian minority), but also worldwide. Hungarian is a non-Indo-European language, a member …

Language facts: Hungarian Read more

French. The stereotype language for romantic souls and fancy chefs. And one of the few languages in the world with the richest vocabulary. It is also an umbrella name for a whole range of French language variants, e.g. Canadian French. The latter is spoken by around 12 million speakers, being a native tongue to 7 …

Language facts: The difference between French and Canadian French Read more

Nobody wants incorrect translation. Too many errors in delivered texts can only compromise the translation supplier and destroy trust in a customer-LSP relationship. There are, however, certain types of errors that, if they occur, can promote the translation quality, clarify terminology use by pointing out mismatches and inconsistencies in translation resources (glossaries or translation memories). …

Useful errors in technical translation? Read more

Social media have become an important feature of business communication strategies – for some even highly essential. Communicators at many leading brands generally understand that content needs to be as customized as possible for (potential) clients, yet their communication on social media often exists in a single language only. There are, in fact, many good …

Multilingual communication on social media: The myths Read more

Bengali (or Bangla) is an Indo-Aryan language used in the area of Bengal in eastern South Asia including the Andaman and Nicobar islands. The language is the second most spoken language in India and the seventh largest language in the world with approximately 230-250 million native speakers (300 million worldwide), and it dates back at least …

Language facts: Bengali Read more

  Belarusian, or White Russian (or White Ruthenian), is an East Slavic language spoken by somewhere between 7 and 9 million people, most of them residing in Belarus. It is an official language in Belarus and parts of Poland. Belarusian is most closely related to Ukrainian, and it is indeed also a minority language in …

Language facts: Belarusian Read more

Not just in today’s globalized world, but whenever more cultures or nations sit together behind one table, languages surely represent a very important part of national and cultural identities to be respected among all partners. Usage of languages, or the constitution of official languages within international organisations or treaties, suggests the importance and respect to each …

Official languages of international organizations Read more

Everything evolves. 30 years ago the translators worked on typewriters, now we work on computers with special translation applications that offer a lot more than delivery of translated text. Today, the delivery includes almost ready-to-publish text that hardly need any reformatting. This is becuase in modern translation, text from source documents is imported into special …

Translation tips: Tags in translation Read more

Translators can be faced with many file formats that require translation, from simple text files to complex DTP files. These more “exotic” files, such as .mif (FrameMaker file format) or .idml (InDesign format) sometimes bring hell on earth for translators trying to import texts from such files into their CAT tools. In particular, one of …

Translation tips: Importing IDML files into CAT tools Read more

It may be once in 5 years, annually, or twice a month, but no matter how often you promote your company and products on international events, such as trade fairs or industry exhibitions, presenting internationally and transferring your message from the company’s native language to the languages of potential target markets is not an easy …

How to communicate on international exhibitions #1: Choosing the right language Read more

Swahili (or Kiswahili) is a language from the Niger-Congo branch, included in the group of Bantu languages. It is spoken in several East African countries, even reaching across the Mozambique Channel to northern Mozambique and is considered a lingua francain the area of the African Great Lakes as well as other parts of Southeast Africa. Swahili is …

Language facts: Swahili Read more

You need to translate a document. You write an email with the request to your translation agency. Then another one, because the project manager has issues with your document, and you then end up writing a third one to approve or negotiate the estimated price and delivery term. After the project has started you realize …

Translation ordering: Stop drowning in emails Read more

  Malaysian (sometimes called also Malacca) is the official language of Malaysia and Singapore. The language is also known as Standard Malay and is closely related to Indonesian. It is the native language of some 10 million people but is spoken by many ethnic minorities and the overall number of speakers is now estimated to about 290 …

Language facts: Malay Read more

As translation professionals, we take many things for granted when we write and translate. While many of our clients have developed different writing rules for different languages in so called style guides*, which we respect and actively use, some things are pretty obvious to anyone though. Even children learning how to write learn from the …

Translation tips: Dashes and hyphens Read more

Polish is a West Slavic language and the official language of Poland. It is most closely related to Czech and Slovak, sharing the region of Central Europe. It is spoken by around 55 million people around the world, primarily in Poland (around 38 million), and by immigrant communities in many countries in Europe, the UAE …

Language facts: Polish Read more

Growing while helping others to expand on new markets with our translation and localization services. Our simple philosophy, 35 years of experience, high quality standards as well as internal research and development that ensured the most innovative and efficient processes move us and our clients forward. Satisfied clientele is the highest form of credit to us, but …

idioma ranked in Asia TOP 30 by CSA Research! Read more

Somehow over the past decades, we have become used to increasing interaction of nations and cultures and some things seemed almost certain. Such as the common European market and its focus on tearing down existing barriers. By June 24th, the (business) world got shocked by the decision of a narrow British majority to leave the …

Brexit and translation industry: What’s next? Read more

Slovak, also known as Slovakian, is an Indo-European language belonging to the West Slavic languages (together with Czech and Polish). The language is very similar to Czech and the two are mutually intelligible, with the exception of some dialects in East Slovakia that have structural differences and is hardly comprehensible to those familiar with the …

Language facts: Slovak Read more

English is spoken as a native language by around 375 million people (250 million people in the USA, 180 million in India, 58 million in the UK, 18 million in Canada, and 16 million in Australia) and as a second language by around 375 million speakers in the world. English is the official language in …

Language facts: English Read more

  What a time to be alive, sit back and be amazed at the unprecedented exponential progress technology is exposing all of us to – from layman to super-pro. The generation before us were hoping for TVs they could hang on walls and roll up and carry under the arms. Maybe that is not far …

Adapt or die: Online tech giants changing the landscape of the translation industry Read more

“See translation“. Two increasingly visible words in the digital environment. Whether it’s about built-in machine translation (MT) apps and gadgets in social media, browsers, or even the soon-to-be-available wireless earplugs connected to smartphones that translate human speech as we speak, machine translation is all around us. Machines are learning and improving exponentially, and attentive translators …

Demystifying machine translation: Do translators need to worry? Read more

The Greek language (or Modern Greek or Hellenic as it is sometimes called) belongs to the Indo-European language family and is the continuity of Ancient Greek. Both languages share almost the same alphabet, grammar, syntax and vocabulary. Latin language and all the Latin-derived languages were influenced by Ancient Greek. Nowadays Greek is spoken by over 17 …

Language facts: Greek Read more

If you are the lucky one assigned to manage, say, translation of an annual product catalog, and you have never managed any translation project before, don’t panic. Search for translation resources. You could save a lot of effort. Map the suppliers thoroughly. The difference is night and day. Document your company’s language management. Establish a …

Manage your very first translation project like a pro: Who should be your supplier? Read more

If you are the lucky one assigned to manage, say, translation of an annual product catalog, and you have never managed any translation project before, don’t panic. Search for translation resources. You could save a lot of effort. Map the suppliers thoroughly. The difference is night and day. Document your company’s language management. Establish a …

Manage your very first translation project like a pro: Is know-how important? Read more

  Portuguese is the official language of Portugal and Brazil, a number of African nations, as well as an official EU language. Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain) and northern Portugal. It is derived from the Latin language spoken by the Romanized Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula …

Language facts: Portuguese and its spelling reform Read more

Greenlandic is a language spoken by the Inuit people in Greenland. The main dialect, Kalaallisut, of Western Greenland belongs to the Eskimo-Aleut family (closely related to other Inuit languages, e.g. in Canada and basically accross the Arctic area). It became the only official language of Greenland when it gained autonomy from Denmark in 2009, after abandoning the …

Language facts: Greenlandic Read more

Russian is the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe. It belongs to the family of Indo-European languages. Russian is the native language of around 165 million people and second language of an additional 110 million people. Startling fact: Over a quarter of the world’s scientific literature is …

Language facts: Russian Read more

「第28回設計・製造ソリューション展に出展します」 2017年6月21日から23日まで、東京ビッグサイトにて開催される第28回設計・製造ソリューション展に出展いたします。 同展は日本最大の製造業向けITソリューションの専門展として大変な注目を集めております。 前回では同時開催展を含め約2,300社の出展があり、今回はそれ以上の出展が見込まれております。   私どものブースでは、技術翻訳に関しての最新トレンドの紹介や、翻訳の国際規格DIN EN ISO 17100への規格遵守の取り組み、また独自クラウドを中心とした各種翻訳サービスを出展する予定です。   なお、当展示会のご来場には招待券が必要となります。 ご希望の方はsales@idioma.comまでお気軽にお問合せください。   ご多用中の折とは存じますが、皆様のご来場を心よりお待ちしております。   開催概要 日本ものづくりワールド2017内 第28回設計・製造ソリューション展 弊社ブース番号：東1ホール41-15 会期：2017年6月21日(水)～6月23日(金) 10:00~18:00(最終日のみ~17:00) 会場：東京ビッグサイト http://www.dms-tokyo.jp/ja/ #東京ビッグサイト #展示会 #設計製造ソリューション展 #ものづくりワールド ________________________________________________________________________ idioma will exhibit at the 28th Design Engineering & Manufacturing Solutions Expo (DMS) in Tokyo from Wednesday, June 21st to Friday, June 23rd.   DMS is Japan’s largest …

idioma @ 28th Design Engineering & Manufacturing Solutions Expo Jun 13, 2017 Read more

In terms of localization and also marketing customization of written content (e.g. in catalogs, websites, or promotional material), professional translation providers should be able to adjust the language and its style to match specifics of a region, ethnicity, or even a social group. But what is a dialect to begin with? And how does it …

Language flavors: Dialects vs. languages Read more

This July was a real Sahara in Prague. To relieve the working tension and to make a little team photoshoot, the (almost) entire Prague production center of idioma took a little walk to a nearby park called Sacre Coeur. With everyone wearing their Christmas present from idioma — a branded t-shirt with custom letters on …

Prague summer vistas and idioma Read more

Croatian is a South Slavic language used primarily in Croatia (where it is an official language) by Croats living in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in neighboring countries where Croats make up autochthonous communities (e.g. the Serbian province of Vojvodina, Molise in Italy, or Burgenland in Austria), and generally the global Croatian diaspora. It is sometimes classified …

Language facts: Croatian Read more

Welcome to the extinction era! You may not be aware of it since it seems the human race is thriving, but Earth is experiencing yet another mass extinction. Scientists have lately suggested defining a new epoch, Anthropocene, as it may be us, humans, who have contributed our bit to the current unfolding of events. Human impact is …

Endangered languages: Will your mother tongue survive? Read more

  If you are new in a company and are suddenly assigned with also handling translations in your role as product manager, office manager, marketing manager, documentation manager, etc., or you are simply the type whom everyone turn to for help when they are stuck, this blog is a must-read. The material to be translated …

Manage your very first translation project like a pro: Where to begin? Read more

Tagalog (also known as Filipino or the native Pilipino) is one of the two official languages of the Philippines, the other being English. Tagalog is an Austronesian language and as such related to Malay, Javanese and Hawaiian. Tagalog is the first language of one third of the Philippines with about 21.5 million speakers, and the second …

Language facts: Tagalog Read more

Azerbaijani, also known as Azeri (or Azeri Turkish), belongs to the Turkic language family and is spoken by some 25-35 million people. There are two variants of the language, North and South, and it is used by the Azerbaijani people in southwestern Asia (also referred to as Transcaucasia, or the South Caucasus region). North Azerbaijani …

Language facts: Azerbaijani Read more

Arabic belongs to the Afroasiatic language family and is a Semitic language of the Arabo-Canaanite subgroup – therefore closely related to Hebrew or Phoenician. With approximately 290 million speakers (of Modern Standard Arabic), it ranks in sixth place among the world’s major languages. In today’s form, Modern Standard Arabic happens to be an official language of 27 states. …

Language facts: Arabic Read more

Over the course of history, languages and their evolution have proven to be an accelerator of brawls between nations, as language happens to be the one common denominator for different groups inhabiting the same area that we actually call a nation. Language is an identification mark of affiliation and there are still languages in Europe …

Languages of Spain’s separatist regions: Basque and Catalan Read more

If you have ever been involved in the content translation process in your company, you are surely familiar with Translation Memories (TMs). And if you are not, you really should be, as TMs are your way to less stress, less overtime work, possibly even a promotion or other reward thanks to reducing your company’s translation …

TM HEALTH CHECK™: 4 Steps to Updated Translation Memories: Read more

People are different, but we share many customs, as we observe daily also in our multinational company. Localization obviously affects cultural customs worldwide, but one thing is in common – we all like to stop and celebrate on many occasions and for many reasons. One good reason, for example, has historically been the advent of …

Autumn at idioma: Czech Republic Read more

FRESH – INTERACTIVE – EFFECTIVE. On June 1st, we released our new website and brand new idioma WORLD™ platform to enhance your possibilities in the translation universe. Apart from new services such as Translation Memory creation, Glossary Creation and our unique Stream Translation API, all current services, including Stream (for instant online estimates of translation price and delivery …

Welcome to your new idioma experience! Read more

  Tokyo/Prague, (November 7, 2017) – Idioma, an international translation services provider based in Tokyo since 1980, is pleased to announce that it has once again pledged its support to help humanitarian translations reach more people around the world by becoming a bronze sponsor of Translators without Borders. Translators without Borders (TWB) strives to provide …

idioma sponsoring Translators without borders in 2018 Read more