Online translation on the rise; changing lives
California: You might use Google Translate to read a hard-to-find Manga comic book or to decipher an obscure recipe for authentic Polish blintzes. Or, like Phillip and Niki Smith in rural Mississippi, you could use it to rescue a Chinese orphan and fall in love at the same time.
Google is now doing a record billion translations on any given day, as much text as you'd find in 1 million books for everything from understanding school lunch menus to gathering national security intelligence. It translates in 65 languages, from Afrikaans to Yiddish, and can be used on websites, with speech recognition and as an app on mobile phones even if there is no connection.
While the technology is exponentially evolving, Google's translation guru Franz Och's face lit up when he heard that the Smiths and their new daughter, 14-year-old Guan Ya, are settling into their new lives together this month communicating almost exclusively through Google Translate....
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10:59 AM, Apr 07, 2013
There is no better way to get to know a film-maker than through his works. To watch them repeatedly - one after the other, till they charm you, make you smile, make you cry and make you think. That to me is the best way to know a filmmaker. To realize and understand what made him or her make movies like the ones you are watching, what is the psyche...
03:07 PM, Nov 23, 2012
New Delhi: AR Rahman was still a branded name before his Oscar win, but one man who was completely stranger to the common music lovers was the sound designer-editor Resul Pookutty, who suddenly became the talk of the town after Slumdog Millionaire won prizes for its sound department at the 81st Academy Awards. Sounding Off is publicized as an autobiography of a villager who one day finds himself on top...
06:28 PM, Nov 07, 2012
Not everyone I have met who like reading, like Orhan Pamuk. They say they cannot get into his books. Of course. It is true. One needs a lot of patience and time on hand to be able to read and appreciate a Pamuk. The first time I started on was with, 'My Name is Red' and it took me two rereads to be able to understand the intricacies and his...
04:47 PM, Oct 08, 2012
New Delhi: In an effort to reach out to a bigger audience on FDI issue, the government has decided to translate Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's September 21 Address to the Nation in over 20 languages and publish it in newspapers across the country. The Department of Audio Visual Publicity (DAVP) under the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has been given the task of translating the televised Address, sources said. In his...
06:18 PM, Sep 27, 2012
It would take a lot for a translated work to be detached from its original or the perception of what it might be like to read the original and savor the book in its translated form. It happens to me all the time. I wish I could read those Spanish and Japanese works in their true form; however I do not know the languages. The same happens when reading an...
05:22 PM, Sep 21, 2012
New Delhi: Former BJP leader Sanjay Joshi on Monday claimed he received a threatening letter among the many such messages he has been getting from unknown sources. Joshi quit the BJP last month citing pressure from Narendra Modi. A vociferous Modi detractor, Joshi's resignation was the price the Gujarat CM extracted from BJP President Nitin Gadkari to attend a party meet in Mumbai last month. The letter, a copy of...
01:55 PM, Jul 09, 2012
New Delhi: Well-known economist Bibek Debroy is addressing a growing need among youngsters bred on English as their staple tongue: He is translating the Indian epic Mahabharata in 11 volumes into contemporary English. Unusual for a full-time economist, who is a research professor at the Centre for Policy Research, an economic and socio-political think-tank. But Debroy is a veteran at his job. The economist has translated the Vedas, the Puranas,...
11:31 AM, Jul 03, 2012
New Delhi: The Economist and Crossword in association with Principal Retirement Advisors & Standard Chartered Bank released the list of entries for the 'The Economist Crossword Book Award 2011' across all the four categories of Indian Fiction, Non-Fiction, Translation and Children's writing. Each award carries a cash prize of Rs 3 lakhs, a trophy and a citation. The publishers have nominated eligible authors for awards which will be sent to...
01:45 PM, Jun 12, 2012
New Delhi: The Economist and Crossword in association with Principal Retirement Advisors & Standard Chartered Bank released the list of entries for the 'The Economist Crossword Book Award 2011' across all the four categories of Indian Fiction, Non-Fiction, Translation and Children's writing. Each award carries a cash prize of Rs 3 lakhs, a trophy and a citation. The publishers have nominated eligible authors for awards which will be sent to...
05:24 PM, Jun 07, 2012
Islamabad: Works of noted subcontinental Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, globally recognised as one who believed in social reform and devoted his poetry to the uplift of humanity, has now been translated into German. A bilingual Urdu-German book of Faiz's poems has been launched by the Goethe Institut in Karachi, Dawn News reported. The poems titled "Jab teri samandar ankhon mein" have been translated into German by the institute's former...
02:16 PM, May 28, 2012
New Delhi: Here is good news for Gmail users. Now, users will be able to conveniently comprehend emails they receive in other languages as Google has announced to roll out the automatic translation feature for all Gmail users over the next few days. "Since message translation was one of the most popular Gmail labs, we decided it was time to graduate from Gmail Labs and move into the real world....
12:52 PM, May 02, 2012
New Delhi: In Kerala, Gabriel Garcia Marquez is among the most popular novelists - thanks to his translated works in Malayalam. Translations of popular fictions, non-fictions and classics are much in demand in India and adorn bookshelves in many urban homes like status tags. For the translator, it is no easy job. For he/she has to stick to the intent and spirit of the original while choosing the words. In...
04:18 PM, Feb 14, 2012
New Delhi: Actor Kabir bedi has started a protest opposing Delhi University's decision to remove late poet and translator AK Ramanujan's essay 'Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation' from its history syllabus. "I have signed petition opposing Delhi University's removal of of AK Ramanujan's '300 Ramayans' from the history syllabus. Knowledge should not be banned," Bedi posted on micro-blogging site Twitter. According to the reports, the...
01:07 PM, Oct 24, 2011
New Delhi: The shortlists for the Vodafone Crossword Books Award was announced across five categories in New Delhi on Wednesday. The categories are: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Translations, Children's Books and Popular Choice. The last of these has been revamped, with the top 5 fiction and top 5 non-fiction bestsellers at Crossword stores across the country being shortlisted. While four separate juries will pick the winners in the first four categories, the...
01:40 AM, Jul 28, 2011
![Arunava Sinha]( "Arunava Sinha")
I am not on any of the juries of the Vodafone Crossword Book Award 2010. Thank goodness. The Fiction and Non-fiction juries have to choose ...
04:33 PM, May 10, 2011
Beijing: China has banned the use of foreign words, particularly English ones, in the Chinese media. The ban order, which applies to newspapers, publishers and website-owners, was issued by the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), the People's Daily reported. According to the GAPP, abuse of foreign languages, particularly the use of half-English, half-Chinese terms, has seriously damaged the purity of the Chinese language and resulted in adverse social...
10:55 AM, Dec 22, 2010
Strangely, all I remember of the cinematic adaptation of Koni, which I saw at least a couple of decades back, is the battle cry of swimming coach Kshitish Sinha egging on a tired protégé – “fight Koni, fight!” And yet, this is the defining peg of the story of an impoverished girl’s singular battle against odds to fulfill a dream. Kanakchampa Pal, a tomboy who jostles with boys of her...
05:51 PM, Sep 14, 2010
Parents-to-be can now check baby name meanings in many languages. ...
08:37 PM, Nov 17, 2009
Johannesburg: Cricket South Africa will investigate claims that 200 million Rands paid to it by the Indian Premier League in 2009 were not audited. The funds from the IPL are at the centre of a controversy that has seen CSA chief executive Gerald Majola suspended pending disciplinary action and investigation of possible criminal charges by the National Prosecuting Authority after almost two years of wrangling within the body over the ...
11:59 PM, May 06, 2008
