03 December 2009
22 September 2009
The use and equality of the Welsh language have long inspired passions, and a long-running campaign seems to have reversed its decline. Today, in an apparent partial victory for bilingualism and the equal use of the Welsh language in Wales, the Assembly Commission has
backed off plans to scrap the translation of debates from English into Welsh.
The plans had caused widespread outrage with the
Welsh Language Board threatening to launch an investigation into whether the move would break the Assembly's own Welsh language scheme. Pressure group
Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Society) also intervened stating:
"It is also a matter of great sadness that Dafydd Ellis-Thomas the Presiding Officer has actively backed this decision since it shows a churlish, colonialist attitude utterly alien for a nation that is striving to create a bilingual future for itself. But we emphasise yet again that our aim at the moment is to seek legal advice concerning this decision since we believe it to be both unlawful and unjust."
Those of us who have ever lived in or visited parts of north and west Wales can have no doubt that Welsh is a living language, used by many as their first choice for saying hello, ordering a pint or doing business. Almost 22% of the population of Wales are Welsh speakers of some kind, and although a smaller number would choose Welsh as their primary language, many
switch between Welsh and English according to the subject at hand and the social context.
The director of CBI Wales has written an interesting opinion piece considering the
arguments for and against Welsh bilingualism, in which he concedes there is a democratic case for people being able to access documents in the language of their choice. Perhaps not surprising he leans against regulation, but instead profers the idea that business may be missing a trick by not providing Welsh translation.
Photo: orange.co.ukOne company not missing that particular boat is Orange who this month
launched a Welsh language mobile phone, the Samsung S5600. Sian Doyle from Orange commented, "This initiative is part of a broader commitment by Orange to provide Welsh speakers with more choice. We already include the Welsh language in our stores via bilingual signage, Welsh speaking advisors and other initiatives. The Welsh market is a vibrant and exciting marketplace".
The phone features not only Welsh menus but also predictive texting in Welsh. Of course there are many features that influence people on which phone to buy, and it remains to be seen how well the first fully Welsh mobile phone fares. But what is incredible is that this recent launch has taken so long to come about.
Another recent adopter of the Welsh language is
Google Translate, which features it in their latest batch of additions. Although it must be said: any
reservations about such machine translation would apply all the more in a language as sensitive to word context as Welsh, leaving no doubt that any serious application of the language still requires a
professional Welsh translator.
One thing is for sure: with a continuing debate, not only regarding the Assembly but whether businesses in general should be obliged to offer a bilingual service, this issue looks unlikely to be far from the headlines for months to come.
Labels: business growth, language, translation, Welsh
17 August 2009
The champagne corks weren't quite popping but the French and German finance ministries were no doubt pleased with themselves last week.
The news that both economies have emerged from recession was welcome, leading
French economy minister Christine Lagarde to comment "These are obviously very positive numbers, which have surprised us and made us quite happy."
The front page of last Friday's City A.M. also adopted a positive tone, stating "European pair lead recovery", hinting at a view of a wider recovery across the Eurozone.
Less heralded was the news that Portuguese-speaking Brazil is also now no longer in recession having grown by 1.5% in the second quarter. Along with growth from China and Japan, this means that
six of the world's top 10 economies are now out of recession.
Meanwhile in the UK, the picture seems more bleak. Discussing the outlook and success of Quantitative Easing in
his eclectic but always insightful and intelligent blog, Newsnight's Paul Mason says:
"Even with 0.5% interest rates right through to 2011 and the full £175bn still in circulation until then, the Bank of England is predicting inflation will undershoot the 2% target for CPI. That means we should expect interest rates to be low for at least that long. It also signifies the recovery is going to be pretty appalling: weak and fragile."
So much for the economics, what does this have to do with translation? Apart from professional translation being effected by the wider economy, I've argued before on this blog that
translation can be part of a business survival strategy and that the
global recession is not playing out evenly.
As Business Secretary Lord Mandelson
points out:
"Different economies will show different patterns of behaviour. But the key point is all these economies rely on each other; 55 to 56% of our trade is with the rest of Europe. So when [they are] recovering that is good news for our manufacturers and our exports here."
The French or German economy may not be booming but if they are pulling ahead of the British, some businesses – not least SMEs – may well wish to revisit the idea of
translating a product brochure into French, or
translating their website into German. This could not only open up new markets for them, but mean busy times ahead for those of us in the professional translation business!
Labels: business growth, French, German, recession, translation
04 November 2008
I’ve mentioned before that I am a big fan of Charlton Athletic football club and the past few weeks have been a real rollercoaster for us fans. For a while I thought my separate worlds of football and Arabic translation would be brought together as
Dubai based Zabeel Investments made an “indicative offer” to buy the club. Following the take-over of Manchester City by the Arabic group ADUG, it's no wonder fans' thoughts turned to Fantasy Football transfers we could expect to see arrive at the Valley.
In the end the deal did not go through as Zabeel are looking to concentrate on investing in property and tourism nearer home. It all made me think about how, in this time of world economic gloom, oil rich Middle East companies look set to try to diversify.
In the United Arab Emirates alone, there is currently around £200 billion worth of active construction projects while the Dubai International Financial Centre aims to massively expand the financial sector with tax, rent and regulatory breaks. Meanwhile the
Palm Islands are a massive real estate and tourism development - the largest land reclamation project in the world, increasing Dubai's shoreline by 520 km. All of this has made the United Arab Emirates one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with some estimates putting GDP growth in 2006 at a staggering 35 percent.
The vast sums of money are not restricted to the Arab world as business opportunities are sought out around the world. So we see Barclays bank raising
£7.3 billion from Middle East investors. Other famous names that have seen an influx of Arabic capital include P&O, Aston Martin and Madame Tussauds.
In these times of doom and gloom news stories, it's no wonder that such growth, investment and let's face it, plain cash, is catching people's attention and many other companies have their eyes set on pulling in some of that investment.
All of which probably goes to explain why we have been inundated with
Arabic translation and typesetting over the last few weeks!
Labels: Arabic, business growth, football, overseas markets, recession, translation
