CULTURE

Chinese New Year

The New Year celebration is the most important holiday in China. Because the Gregorian calendar has also been used in China since the beginning of the 20th century, the Chinese New Year does not begin on the actual start of the year, but rather on the new moon that appears between January 21 and February 21. This year, it took place on February 14. In connection with New Year’s Day, China traditionally celebrates the Spring Festival, which officially ends with the Lantern Festival, celebrated on the 15th day of the first month following the end of the Chinese calendar year.

Just like the American Thanksgiving or the European Christmas, the Chinese New Year is a family celebration; everyone tries to return home well before the start of the New Year. An astounding phenomenon which arose from this tradition is what the Chinese call "Chunyun" and it is the cause of a large worldwide migration each year: hundreds of millions of Chinese flood the train stations, airports, and bus stations trying to get home to their families during this time.

The night before the New Year’s celebration, the family gathers together for a banquet of all kinds of delicacies, fish being a "must have." Only a small portion of the fish is eaten. The Chinese word for "fish," yú, is a homophone for the word "prosperity." Right before the beginning of the New Year between the hours of 11 PM and midnight, everyone leaves the house and takes the old year with them outside. The windows inside the house are opened to allow in the luck of the New Year. The fireworks also begin after 11 PM and last into the morning hours. However, in many cities fireworks are not allowed due to fire concerns.

The first day of the New Year is likewise celebrated within the family circle. In the morning, each person greets his or her parents with a New Year’s blessing and compliment. Paying respect to their ancestors is also of extreme importance. Respects are given to the ancestors by kneeling down (kowtow) in front of the family pedigree tablets and offering up incense.

NEW CLIENT RELATIONS

CITO-LT, a leading company in the development of computer-aided language learning, selects MultiLing as its translation provider.

MultiLing welcomes Global Educational Technologies as a new client. The company is a part of CITO-LT, which provides computer-aided language learning systems. MultiLing translates user manuals and localizes software menus in order to prepare language learning systems for use in a large number of countries.

MultiLing’s translation know-how in the pharmaceutical and bio-pharmaceutical field earns the trust of industry leader Carbogen Amcis.

MultiLing also welcomes Carbogen Amcis as a new client. Carbogen Amcis of Switzerland is a market-leading company that supports pharmaceutical and bio-pharmaceutical companies as they introduce their products into the market.

BEST PRACTICE

Not only does the drafting of patent specifications require specific know-how, but the advice of experts is often needed in the translation of these documents. In many companies, the idea of "translation" is given too little value. Often the idea prevails that transferring content from one language into another can be casually accomplished. This thought process creates a type of "trivialization" of the translation process that poses a tremendous risk on the successful introduction of these brands into foreign countries. Every language contains ambiguous expressions and connotations that only native speakers or individuals with a vast knowledge of the language are familiar with. The highest accuracy is required when translating patents because these patents are dealing with legally binding documents that must precisely describe an innovation in every required language in order to ensure protection of the trademark or patent in the desired countries. In a recent article found in the American journal Communicator, Amanda Montecinos, Vice President of Operations at MultiLing, described the most important requirements for the translation process of patents and trademarks. The complete article can be found HERE.

TECHNOLOGY

MultiLing introduces a new Translation Memory Program FORTIS REVOLUTION

A complete software version solution costing €149.00 is available to all in the German market.

Following a successful launch in the U.S., MultiLing now introduces its new translation memory program FORTIS REVOLUTION in Germany. This new software is a further development of the proven FORTIS system and has been improved by the MultiLing development team while working in close collaboration with translators.

The system optimizes the working processes of translators in which it automatically inserts repeated words and phrases that had been previously translated in the text upon request.  Intelligent methods of Translation-Memory-Management and Fuzzy-Memory-Matching enable the automatic pre-translation of similar textual content in addition to identical textual content.  This saves time processing the document, ensures consistent quality standards, and reduces the client’s costs. The relationship between the number of words to be translated in a given portion of text and the number of words already present in the Translation Memory System can be analyzed at any given moment by means of a graphical statistical analysis.

Michael Sneddon, CEO of MultiLing, stated, "With FORTIS REVOLUTION, we have developed a software program that combines all the features of very expensive, professional translation memory programs into one package at a price that is unique in this industry. In doing so, the system deviates from the generally typical divisions of modules and components.

"FORTIS REVOLUTION represents an easily operated, complete system that satisfies all the requirements of software-supported translation processes. For this reason, we have decided to make this system available to not only the approximately 1,000 worldwide translators working for MultiLing, but also to freelance translators and companies."

FORTIS REVOLUTION is immediately available for purchase through MultiLing Germany at a price of €149.00. Future software updates of this product version are already included in this price and are available to customers through automatic software updates by means of the Internet.

The extensive technical features of FORTIS REVOLUTION include:

• Unicode support for guaranteed compatibility
• Freely adjustable segmentation
• XML-based standard tagging
• SQL-based glossary creation
• New, powerful filters for MS Word, Adobe Framemaker, and InDesign
• Fast pre-translation
• Shortened pre-translation times (10 times faster than other translation memory tools)
• Powerful search engine for regular expressions
• Graphical display of the relationship between the text to be translated and the text already in the memory
• Use of multiple translation memories and glossaries at the same time
• User friendly desktop
• Automatic free updates