According to the BBC World News of November 5, 2008, Daniel James, an Iranian-born translator for General David Richards, England’s top general in Afghanistan, has been found guilty of spying for Iran. To read the full article, go to BBC News.
James, from Brighton, England, was accused of three crimes, including communicating information to the enemy, [...]
Category: Edwin's Translation Blog
British Army interpreter found guilty of spying
November 7, 2008 – 3:06 pm
U.S. Publishers shy away from literary translation
November 5, 2008 – 4:31 pm
At the 2008 Frankfurt Book Fair, which took place October 14-18, 2008 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, publishers from over 100 countries displayed their newest publications. Turkey was the guest of honor this year, and special exhibitions on Turkish life, literature, and culture were held.
U.S. booksellers at the fair, however, were slow to browse non-English [...]
New Translation Law in California
September 2, 2008 – 9:17 am
In January 2009 a new translation law for Health Care Providers in California goes into effect. HealthLeaders InterStudy, a managed-care news service, reports that many providers have already submitted plans for conforming with the new law.
The law, known as Senate Bill 853, requires health plans to translate vital documents into the top spoken language among [...]
Facebook Members Post Free Translations
July 25, 2008 – 11:29 am
Facebook is causing quite a stir with its announcement to have its members perform free translations of its website. Using “crowdsourcing” to perform translations certainly saves a company lots of money–its free afterall–but at what costs?
Right now Spanish, French, and German are up an running, and other langauges such as Catalan, Dutch, Polish, Turkish, Danish, [...]
Immigrant Workers in Iowa Denied Interpreter Rights
July 24, 2008 – 2:10 pm
Erik Camayd-Freixas, one of the interpreters for a group of 400 undocumented workers recently arrested by federal agents in Pottsville, Iowa, recently blew the whistle on the hearings which sent hundreds of the workers to jail without due process.
In an essay titled “Interpreting after the Largest ICE Raid in US History” published in the Monthly [...]
New Special Immigrant Visa for Iraqi and Afgan Translators
July 16, 2008 – 2:21 pm
On June 3, 2008, the President signed a new law authorizing the Department of State to raise the number special immigrant visas (SIVs) to Iraqi and Afgan translators and interpreters, allowing handlers to exceed the 500 visas earlier allotted. Applicants may also qualify for resettlement benefits. For more information, see the Dept of [...]
Top 25 Translation Companies
June 25, 2008 – 11:58 am
Common Sense Advisory, an independent research firm, has just published their list of the top 25 translation companies in the world, something they have been doing since 2005. As expected, the numbers show significant growth in the field of translation and localization. Indeed, the market is growing faster than ever.
It is good time to enter [...]
Unqualified Interpreters Used in Scotland
June 9, 2008 – 1:03 pm
In Scotland, The Sunday Herald (June 9, 2008) is reporting that the delivery of justice in many immigration cases is being compromised because of the use of unqualified interpreters for immigrants in the courts. In many cases, including assaults, custody disputes, and even a rape case, students are being used instead of professional interpreters.
To read [...]
Facebook and Translation
May 19, 2008 – 4:23 pm
With the beginning of the new year, Facebook launched its new crowdsourcing application for translations, allowing its users to provide free translations for its webpage. While this approach to translation will no doubt save the company millions of dollars, it will also no doubt introduce many errors, bugs, and questionable solutions, also at a considerable [...]
Translation at TCU
May 7, 2008 – 11:33 am
On April 1, 2008, I was invited to give the Cecil and Ida Green Honors lecture at the Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth where I spoke on “Translation and Cultural Politics in the USA” to an audience of 80-100, mostly students in the modern languages department.
The talk was well received. I gave some [...]