Localization
Translation and the damage done
An article appeared today in the Liberty Times:
成年（adulthood）變通姦（adultery） 英譯太離譜
民進黨立委陳瑩昨日指出，由台灣史前文化博物館所出版的「跨越與連結－臺灣與南島文化」一書中部分英文翻譯嚴重錯誤，有侮辱原住民之嫌。（記者王敏為攝）〔記者林曉雲、黃明堂、趙靜瑜／綜合報導〕原住民的紋面是成年的標誌，有肯定、尊敬的正面意義，但由國立台灣史前文化博物館出版的「跨越與連結｜台灣與南島文化」一書，英文說明卻把成年（adulthood）錯譯成adultery（通姦），導致外國人誤認紋面是通姦的標誌；立委陳瑩、卑南族長老陳冠年及英文教授張武昌直批「太離譜」！
It is the often-told story of a translation gone bad — a poorly executed Chinese-to-English translation at that. In this case, Taiwan’s indigenous peoples are claiming damage to their cultural dignity and demanding that the offending translated book be recalled immediately.
After a bit of sleuthing (seems that [...]
Pinyin Battle Goes On (and on and on…)
After long debate and no small amount of ideologically (and even economically) driven arguments, all parts of Taiwan, with the notable exception of Taipei City, had settled on the use of Tongyong Pinyin as the national romanization (transliteration) standard. But as the shift in powers have swayed, the new Taiwan government announced its adoption of [...]
Web and Business Grows as Linguistic Hurdles Overcome
An excellent article on the efforts and investments in providing non-English content and applications to create and capture new markets in India and around the world was published today (Dec. 31, 2008) in the New York Times. Here’s just two of my favorite quotes from the article:
“Gone are the days in which you can launch [...]
Where have all the good technical writers gone?
In the early days of Taiwan’s booming IT industry, not a small part of Pristine’s business came in the form of writing technical documentation and localizing that documentation into the major languages of the world. But as the industry matured, and cost-cutting became the mantra for squeezing out the competition, so went the budgets for [...]
Standards, but what’s the point?
Masters of IT hardware standards Taiwan may be, but this has not translated into noteworthy capabilities in the softer side of information technology. No where is this more true than in web development in Taiwan and especially web development standards as defined and mandated by the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission. The RDEC, as it [...]
樂活 / Lohas: A case of cross-cultural morphing
Although Lohas is the consumer-friendly soft-sell version of social and environmental responsible living, the Chinese 樂活 often completely ditches the pesky environmental consciousness usually attached to the Lohas mindset. Although dedicated Chinese Lohas/樂活 sites still attach some importance to green consumption and living, when referred to by more mainstream media, especially lifestyle product advertisers, the [...]
