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 just finished reading “The Fifth Mountain” by Paulo Coelho.  For those who do not know him yet, he is the same author who wrote the international bestseller “The Alchemist”.  This book “The Alchemist”  has been translated into over 60 different types of languages and has sold over 75 millions copies!

As I am reading “The Fifth Mountain”, I found that it is immensely intriguing and it keeps me reading on to find out what will happen to the main character, Elijah.  It is a story about a person finding his own courage and commitment to his higher purpose.  All of us have our higher purpose when we are born, but many of us choose to ignore or defy that purpose.

Well for me, this book brings a great sense of inspiration to me.  I will follow my instinct and achieve my higher purpose in life – to serve mankind through better communication and education.

Because Paulo is a Brazillian writer, so I assume that the book is written in Portugese and translated into English and other languages.  Kudos to the translators who did a marvellous job.  The whole book is very well written and the principles behind it are timeless.  I believe the team of translators and editors have spent lots and lots of time doing research, translating, proofreading, re-editing and proofreading the content before it is good enough to be published.  The team effort and synergy is enormous.

I guess the translators and editors have a great responsibility to the author and the readers.  The writing style and flow must be consistent  without losing any flavour as compared to the original copy.

We are in the midst of doing a book translation.  Hence, we can share their feelings and responsibilities.  We will definitely keep you update on our new book launch.

For those who would like to have a read of the reviews or to get the book, here’s it:

A friend emailed me a joke on how languages can be misinterpreted if not communicated properly. Some of you may have heard it before, so here goes…

Confusing Chinese Names

Caller : Hello, can I speak to Annie Wan (anyone)?

Operator : Yes, you can speak to me.

Caller : No, I want to speak to Annie Wan (anyone)!

Operator : You are talking to someone! Who is this?

Caller : I’m Sam Wan (Someone). And I need to talk to Annie Wan (anyone)! It’s urgent.

Operator : I know you are someone and you want to talk to anyone! But what’s this urgent matter about?

Caller : Well… just tell my sister Annie Wan (anyone) that our brother Noel Wan (no one)has involved in an accident. Noel Wan (no one)got injured and now Noel Wan (no one) is being sent to the hospital. Right now, Avery Wan (everyone) is on his way to the hospital.

Operator : Look if no one was injured and no one was sent to the hospital, then the accident isn’t an urgen t matter! You may find this hilarious but I don’t have time for this!

Caller : You are so rude! Who are you?

Operator : I’m Saw Lee (Sorry).

Caller : Yes! You should be sorry. Now give me your name!!!

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Here’s another one..

 Why Chinese shouldn’t have Christian names:

 
Anne Chang => Dirty (Mandarin)

Anne Chin => Keep Quiet (Mandarin)

Faye Chen => Dusty (Mandarin)

Carl Cheng => Buttock (Hokkien)

Monica Cheng => Touching your buttocks (Hokkien)

Lucy Leow => You are dead (Hokkien)

Jane Tan => Frying eggs (Mandarin)

Suzie Leow => Lose till death (Hokkien)

Henry Mah => Hate your mum (Mandarin)

Corrine Tai => Poor fellow (Hokkien)

Paul Chan => Bankrupt (Mandarin)

Nelson Tan => Bird laying eggs (Mandarin)

Leslie Tong => Rubbish Bin (Mandarin)

Carmen Teng => Leg hair long (Hokkien)

Connie Mah => Call your mother (Cantonese)

Danny See => Squeeze you to death (Hokkien)

Rosie Teng => Screws and nails (Hokkien)

Pete Tsai => Nose droppings (Hokkien)

Macy Koh => Never die before (Cantonese)

As you all might know, Singapore is a multi-racial country. The four official languages in Singapore are Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and English.

English is the most common language used. Children are taught in English at school but also learn their mother tongue to make sure they don’t lose contact with their traditions. This is made compulsory by our education system where every child is given a chance to take up an additional language as their Second Language (example Mandarin, Malay or Tamil).

Public signs and official publications are in English, although there are usually translated versions in other official languages.  Some of the advertisment, marketing collaterals and newsletter will often be translated into other languages for ease of understanding.

During festive seasons, there are also a higher demand for certain language translation.  This is obviously due to advertisers who wish to promote their services or products catering to a bigger market during these seasons.

For Lunar New Year and Mooncake festival, we see that there are more demand for Mandarin translation.  Likewise for Hari Raya and Deepavali,  there will be higher demand for Malay and Tamil translation respectively.

Sometimes, you may find different languages in a single brochure.  Naturally, such brochures are catered for greater public audience.  The multiple languages add a unique feel to such brochure too.

We do believe that there are also other countries having the same  experiences as us.  Do share your comment with us.  We love to hear from you too!