“Ebony and Ivory live together in perfect harmony. Side by side on my piano keyboard, oh Lord, why don’t we?” so sang Stevie Wonder. Indeed, the world is constantly grappling with the age old issue of racial harmony. Until today, even as we progress, we still find ourselves being challenged by racial prejudices almost everyday.

As most parts of the world become increasingly cosmopolitan, we find ourselves having to learn to live and work alongside our counterparts from other races and countries, who may not share the same culture, beliefs and values as us. But the inevitable phenomenon of globalisation has brought about an unexpected amount of tolerance amongst different groups of people, whose lives become entwined together through their social or business network. In fact, some have found love in another race.

As the world celebrates love in this month of February, we are reminded once again about how powerful love can be. Love can transcend all barriers to bring two very different people together to share their lives and thoughts. In fact, it can even bring together people from very different cultural backgrounds.

In this time and day, it is amazing how many inter-racial relationships we are witnessing over the years. The world has become a melting pot of different cultures, religions and values. From the far west to our own backyard in Singapore, inter-racial couples have become the norm of modernisation. It doesn’t matter whether they share the same national language or not, these inter-racial couples are not lost in translation as they immerse themselves in the world’s common language – love. Let’s toast to love this season as we set aside our own prejudices to embrace one of the greatest gifts on earth.

Here are some of the most prominent inter-racial couples of our times:

• 46-year-old renowned Hong Kong celebrity, Maggie Cheung and 39-year-old German architect beau, Ole Scheeren, the man behind Beijing’s CCTV Tower and Singapore’s new iconic development, The Interlace condominium.
• Richard Stanley, the late ex-CEO of DBS and Singaporean wife, Koh Li Peng
• Singapore’s Minister for National Development, Mah Bow Tan and Australian wife Dr. Sheryn Kaye Von Senden
• Singer and guitarist, the late John Lennon, who was a member of the illustrious English rock band, the Beatles; and his Japanese artist-cum-musician wife Yoko Ono
• Bruce Lee, the martial arts legend and American teacher, Linda Cadwell
• Prominent Indian political figure, Sonia Gandhi, who is an Italian and late husband, Rajiv Gandhi, son of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
• Former US Defense Secretary, William Cohen and journalist Janet Langhart

After been in the piles of work for some time, we need to stop ourselves for a break, to take a look at the world around us. Because amidst the busy-ness, time never does stop for anyone. So when we stopped to look around, things have already changed so much that one may not be able to recognise or follow up.

Same goes for the world of translation… 5 years ago when you want to look for these companies to assist you in translation, you can only find a few under yellow pages. However now if you were to look into yellow pages again, you will find more of such providers, big or small.

Does this mean the pie is getting smaller?

According to “The World is Flat”, it seems that now the world has become more globalised and that even smaller companies can compete with the large corporations in the business world, and they not only can compete within their home country, they can also compete globally, thanks to the availability of the world wide web.

And of course with globalisation, comes the need for people to communicate more with counterparts who may not understand one’s own language. So the need for translation and interpretation increases.

However with the increase in the demand for such services, there is also a need to ensure that the quality provided is maintained at its highest. Translation is a skill which not many people, although whom seem to be able to speak a couple of languages, are apt in. Same like the world, translators also need to keep improving and changing and look at the bigger picture – the World.

And anyway, that’s why we’ve also changed our blog outlook.

There are many translation tools out there. There are those that you need to pay for, and those that are free. Of course if you just need to do brief checks on whether what you have translated is right or wrongly, you can use the free ones online, which I had previously mentioned in the blog on multi languages website translations/.

However recently I read on this news that “Babylon Translation Tool Does a So-So Job” by Erik Larkin, which makes me think that sometimes even machines that you have had to pay for, might not even do a better job than those that are free! So does this statement “best things in life are free” (sang by Madonna in “This used to be my playground”) apply in this case?

Ultimately, I personally still think nothing beats a human translator, as the brain is the most complex tool in the world. Ability to absorb information, process and then spit out in a different language is not something that a machine can replace, because very often, emotions are not included in the texts. That’s why we also need to “read between the lines” for a deeper understanding of texts. This understanding is not easily adapted by machines.

Still, the human brain is the best translation tool so far.

I’m not too sure what kind of jobs do not require constant upgrading. Nowadays, with the economic situation, it would be great to sit back, slow down and do some reconsolidation of your current skills, your work, your life and your future. What do you really need to move on in life, or in your work?

Take translation for example, it seems like the colloqualism of languages are always increasing, and with the internet, more lingos are added day by day. Are there any old words that are being phased out? Yes of course. And also, I realised that the way that we write our books, are becoming more and more conversational. No longer do we need to stick to standard English. Often, you get to see words like “don’ts” or “gals”, which only exist in a book as a conversation.

As we broaden our horizons, our experience go UP, and so you can only get better. So I think we all should read more, see more, listen more and learn more. Translation is no longer just translation, but also an experience or a story behind the words.

This headline was written by ANDREW ADAM NEWMAN on June 28, 2009 for the New York Times at:

Translators Wanted at LinkedIn. The Pay? $0 an Hour.

It says this: “About half of the 42 million members of LinkedIn, the online professional networking Web site, are outside the United States, and to further expand internationally, the company hopes to be translated into more than its current four languages — English, Spanish, French and German. But when LinkedIn asked thousands of its translator members to complete a survey this month that asked whether they would consider volunteering to translate the site into other languages, many said “nyet.””

If it were you, would you do this job for free? It really is a controversy. Right now, I’m even having a split mind whether I would do it. It takes up much time and effort. If I get more sales and recognition from doing this, yes, perhaps I would.

For those who would accept the job, I salut your courage and time, but hope that you can consider twice or thrice or even ten times, because everything we do, these intentions can be interpreted differently along the way.

With regards to dermatoglyphics, we also realise why some people are so good with words, others are good in athletics. These abilities are inborn, since the day we were fetuses in our mothers’ womb. However having those kinds of qualities do not  necessarily translate you into a genius in those areas. One must still have a nurturing environment to help you develop those qualities.

Back to translation. For those who are learning a third language, it is also important to immerse yourself into that environment so that you can pick it up faster. Non-native linguists who stay for long in a country would tend to understand even the localised terms. A language comes together with the culture. Thus building language bridges would allow one to build culture bridges as well!

In the Singapore context, anyone can be a linguist! We are a bunch who can speak English (being our first language), Mandrin, Malay, and for some of us who have been living with grandparents since young, can maybe speak languages like Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew, etc. This is not so much of a difficult feat, since we grow up in this environment. I used to joke with some clients who asked me whether I do any translation. I said “Yes of course. So if you need to interpret anything in Hokkien or Teochew, please look for me!” And usually, I get laughs.

Because simply, there’s no translation requirement for most of these dialects.

Unlike some Singaporean translators whom we know, not only are they effectively bilingual in both English and Mandrin, some of them even went on to master a third or even a forth language! Personally, I really admire their courage. Having recently tried to pick up French, I realise it is not an easy task. Every language has its uniqueness, and one has to be emersed in that environment in order to become a language specialist. Sometimes, even the natives might not know as much!

Thus for this, kudos to all linguists out there! I really admire your courage and determination to help us all bridge cultures. The world is smaller because of you!

Dear folks,

Thank you for being supportive of our blog with you comments and readership. Without your comments, it would make us wonder whether anyone ever reads anything on this site at all!!

Back to translation, have you ever had the experience of stumbling upon a word and need a quick translation to be done?

There are a few websites that can do the trick, though not always accurate. But for the one or two word kind of translation, it should not be a problem.

• http://translate.google.com.sg/translate_t#
• http://babelfish.yahoo.com/
• http://www.stars21.com/
• http://www.freetranslation.com/
• http://www.worldlingo.com/en/products_services/worldlingo_translator.html

My favourite these days is Google. It is pretty accurate, and there is a possibility of us giving suggestions to the translation if we feel it is not good enough. But if you were to translate sentences, then you will need to find someone who knows that language to proofread it. As it is a direct translation, the structure of the language is messy and the grammer may not be right.

You can have fun with these free online tools, and may even conjure up a letter to your friend in a foreign language. However, the other party may never know what you were trying to say at all!

I have tried interpretation myself, be it simultaneous or consecutive. It feels as if you are a split person, having the left side working quite differently from the right side of your brains! The ears would listen in 1 language, and the mouth would reproduce the words in another language, almost at the same time.

A good interpretor does not allow for a lag in the speech. He or she will start almost at the same time as the speaker. It is as if the interpretor is the speaker! It takes a lot of knowledge on the topic as well as understandingof the speaker. If the interpretor has worked with the same speaker for some time, he or she will be able to guess what the speaker want to say in the next sentence. This takes a lot of practise, and not to say, much more energy and concentration on the matter.

Why more energy? A good interpretor not only translates verbally the words, he or she would transfer the emotions of the speaker to the audience too!

Not all translators can be interpretors. For translation, you have all the time in the world to slowly “digest” the source and “spit out” the translated words. It is not so for interpretation. Even for consecutive interpretation. You would only have that sentence length of time to process the source and form the correct words.

It is a very challenging job and I did enjoy my experiences as an interpretor. So, for those who would like to try out interpretation, you can start with listening to some audio and translate on the spot. You can record what you have interpreted, so that you can check back on your translation later on.

Have fun!

Recently, I have been reading Og Mandino’s A Better Way to Live.  His books has sold over 50 million copies and has been translated into over 25 different languages.  Og remains one of the best-selling inspirational author till now.

In this book, the author features 17 simple “Rules to Live By”.  What inspires me is that each rule is so simple yet profound.  These rules are timeless principles which offer happiness and fulfillment to our life if we practise the principles daily.  I guess this is what they mean by “Happiness is always at your doorstep and all you need is to just open the door”

I  wish to share one rule from the book with my dear bloggers.  It is Rule Number 9. – Live this day as if it will be your last.  Remember that you will only find “tomorrow” on the calenders of fools.  Forget yesterday’s defeats, and ignore the problems of tomorrow.  This is it.  Doomsday.  All you have.  Make it the best day of your year.  The saddest words you can ever utter are, “If I had my life to live over again…”  Take the baton, now.  Run with it!  This is your day!

Yes, live this day as if it will be your last!  All us should strive to live out each day to our maximum potential.  We should treasure our time, our loved ones, our friends and ourselves preciously.  We should always count each passing day as our blessing.  If we have such mentality, we would pass each day with greater vigor, enthusiasm and passion.  And the problems of tomorrow would be like passing clouds, that temporarily dampen our heart but  not our spirit for all such things should pass us by.

Each new day is like a new course.  We are like a runner in this journey called life.  The “yesterday” runner would pass the baton to “today” runner…and the “today” runner would continue run the course but with greater passion and vigor than “yesterday”  runner.

Lets all make this journey a more colourful and exciting one!  Hurray!  Cheers on!

And thanks for your teaching, Og!