We’re fresh off the plane home from the annual user conference of Lectora,
the leading eLearning software and authoring tools provider. We’re inspired by the creativity and accomplishments of the eLearning community we saw on display in San Antonio. And we have a keen sense of the role translation will play in the future of eLearning…
Photo Credit: Arek Olek via photopin cc
On a blog appropriately called “The Translation Blog, ” LinguaLinx took a look at cross-cultural business communication.
We focused on three common examples of cultural mistakes: mistranslations, cultural incompatibility and bad associations with the way a brand, product or company name sounds.
You can read the full blog post here.
Some excerpts and paraphrases follow:
LinguaLinx has announced a twenty year commitment to using an environmentally friendly solar power unit. Read about about how it works – and why it’s important – to the language translation provider in upstate New York. By utilizing solar panels, the company will replace much of its traditional energy consumption with environmentally friendly electricity. Excess power created by the solar panels can be provided to the utility grid, further increasing the availability and use of green energy.
Solar Panels on the Lingualinx building in Cohoes, NY.
By choosing to use green electricity, LinguaLinx is reducing environmental impact and supporting the development of renewable generation in New York’s capital region. This reduces the need for power from a utility provider and promotes energy independence.
While LinguaLinx estimates a 76.52% reduction in energy costs, the price to install and maintain solar power is often prohibitive. To overcome this barrier, LinguaLinx has entered into a 20 year Solar Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with New York Light Energy, a Latham New York-based company offering cost-effective solar power.
According to the agreement, New York Light Energy conducts a structural and electrical analysis of facilities prior to installation. The company then designs, installs and operates a photovoltaic (PV) power system. LinguaLinx pays for the green electricity produced by the solar paneling with no required investment in equipment or maintenance.
David Smith, president of LinguaLinx, said the company is active in practicing social and environmental responsibility. The company won the 2012 “Spirit of Cohoes” award for outstanding service to local community residents and businesses. The new 30,000 kW solar unit will help LinguaLinx maintain its environmental stewardship during periods of growth and expansion.
“Consistent with our mission to be an ecologically responsible company, LinguaLinx is pleased to be working with New York Light Energy in providing a solar power solution to help us increase our power independence and reduce our energy costs.”
Alex Lieb, New York Light Energy’s CEO, echoed Smith’s conviction that green energy is a win-win proposition for preserving the environment and reducing utility costs.
“New York Light Energy is proud to support LinguaLinx, a leader in multicultural marketing, during its transition to renewable solar energy that will power LinguaLinx for decades to come,” said Lieb. “Customers and employees will all benefit from a commitment to environmentally friendly renewable energy which will help to power the growth of LinguaLinx.”
While companies such as New York Light Energy make green power feasible, Smith also stressed that companies not taking advantage of green initiatives can start with small steps to lessen environmental impact.
Suggestions include recycling programs and reducing the amount of documents printed. For large documents that require printing such as business proposals, contracts and reports, it is beneficial to print two-sided on recycled paper when possible.
About LinguaLinx, Inc.
LinguaLinx, Inc. is a full-service international communications company providing an array of services ranging from outsourced documentation, XML migration and content authoring to multilingual solutions in over 100 languages such as translation, interpreting and desktop publishing. LinguaLinx partners with clients to enhance all aspects of their content lifecycle and achieve a greater return on their multicultural marketing efforts. More information can be obtained by visiting http://www.lingualinx.com
Roger The Robot, the official mascot of SEOMOZ, bears the gift of wisdom.
LinguaLinx and its clients were recently featured in SEOMOZ, a much respected blog for professionals in the marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) fields.The blog post was entitled Beyond SEO: Why Good Translation is the Secret Sauce for Successful International Projects. It made the point that technical SEO expertise on things like website architecture and page titles isn’t enough. Expert translation is also essential.
You can read the full blog post here. Some excerpts follow.
In an earlier post, we listed and commented on five of the most common problems with translation projects. You can read the results here. Today, we’ll go over the rest of our findings and offer more insight.
Working with new clients and speaking with potential clients, we noticed many of the same issues showing up. We put the ten most common problems into a survey to see how widespread they are. Popular response confirmed these issues happen frequently. Since most of the problems go back to the basics, we thought it would be useful to share them along with our commentary.
Certification for translators can be an important credential. It also has limitations. Certification is according to language combinations. A translator might be certified for English into Spanish or Chinese into English. Since there is no certification for many language pairs, translation agencies need more ways to pick the right person for the job.
(COHOES, NEW YORK, September 13, 2012) – LinguaLinx, Inc., a language service provider featured on the 2012 Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing companies, is launching an “LSP 101” series on its blog to cover topics that are basic fundamentals of the industry. The first post will cover the difference between Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese for translation projects.
Jim Rohn once said “Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.” The success of LinguaLinx and our clients has been recognized by Inc. Magazine this year, and we believe adhering to the basics has been a key factor.
When you focus on price per word, there is a limit to how low you can negotiate your rates. After reaching this point – presumably with no problems in quality or service – translation savings will plateau.
Would you now consider your translation process to be optimized?