Top 5 LinkedIn Groups for Translation, Localization, and Interpretation

In a recent GALA blog post titled "To Be Linked... What is the Value Proposition?", Rebecca Petras recently noted the value and influence of LinkedIn in the translation and localization industry. As she hinted, there is not enough time in the day to participate in every networking and expertise-building discussion you could have in the dozens of translation-related LinkedIn groups. So, to help you out, here is a concise list of the largest and most active translation-related groups on LinkedIn. Join these first if you are looking for member and discussion volume, then you can worry later about the niche groups that fit a particular need of yours.

1. Localization Professional (3600+ members, 150+ recent discussions)
2. Language Jobs (1500+ members, 80+ recent discussions, 10+ recent jobs)
3. Localization and Globalization Fusion Society (1500+ members, 80+ recent discussions)
4. Lingua (1200+ members, 60+ recent discussions)
5. G11n - Globalization Professionals (1100+ members, 50+ recent discussions)

The Localization Professional (LocPro) group is far and away the most active, thanks to active management by group owner, Serge Gladkoff. Serge helps promote good discussion and even negotiates perks like discount subscriptions to MultiLingual for group members. It probably helps that LocPro already has more than double the membership of any other translation-related group on LinkedIn.

I intentionally left some groups off this list, including groups with a broader focus like content management. ProZ's large LinkedIn membership would make it number 2, but discussions and basically all participation have been disabled, so joining the ProZ LinkedIn group is all but completely worthless.

Some groups may never reach the above membership levels, but they can be great for networking because of their focus. For example, the Automated Language Translation Group may never reach 3,000 members because of its more focused target audience, but it currently has 800+ members and 20+ recent discussions, and group owner Kirti Vashee helps ensure that the discussions are lively and get a lot of participation.

In short, if you 're not already a member of LinkedIn, then you should join. Plenty of people like me have formed many mutually beneficial relationships in this professional networking environment. If you're already a member, then consider becoming more active by connecting to a few more of your colleagues, posting a few more jobs, or asking/answering a few more questions. Not only you, but also your connections will benefit from your participation.

Best Translation Industry News Sources

There are many sources to go to for news and commentary on the translation industry. However, some of those sources are not regularly updated, or they focus on issues at the freelancer level. Here is a list of several preferred sources for news and commentary on the business and technology of translation, localization, and interpretation. Follow the links to quickly sign up for email alerts or RSS feeds, and you'll be kept up-to-date in the future without having to remember so many different URLs.

Monthly magazines - for monthly magazines and journals, I recommend subscribing to the following:

• MultiLingual
• ClientSide News

Regular newsletters - click on the links below to subscribe to the following newsletters:

• MultiLingual News (bimonthly)
• Global Intelligence Newsletter by CSN (bimonthly)
• The Toolkit (bimonthly)
• The Globalization Insider by LISA (almost monthly)
• GALAxy Newsletter (quarterly)

Regular blog commentaries - subscribe by email and/or RSS to the following regularly updated blogs:

• Global Watchtower by Common Sense Advisory
• Global by Design by Byte Level Research aka John Yunker
• T&I Business (see the subscription options above)

Daily news - for daily updates, I recommend subscribing to the following

• inttranews
• Customized Google News or Google News Alerts for keywords like "translation," "localization," "machine translation," or "interpreter"

One of the more unique, up-and-coming sources above is inttranews. In addition to providing daily links to news articles, commentaries, and press releases, it also provides links to translation tender/RFP notices and awards. The inttranews daily feed includes a broader definition of the language industry, so localization professionals may not be interested in the articles included about ASL, but you'll find some good little tidbits there that the newsletters often miss. inttranews also appears to be receiving web traffic comparable to other sources that have been around a while longer.

All the above sources offer at least some free content, and a few offer additional paid services too. I've intentionally excluded many known sources from this list because those sources focus on freelancer issues, or they focus too much on company-specific agendas, or they are not regularly updated. If you have additional suggestions, please add them in the comments below.

On a related note, check out the list of Best Translation Industry Event Calendars.

Translation Cartoonist Alejandro Moreno-Ramos & Mox's Blog

Hebrew translator Yossi Rozenman just pointed me to Mox's Blog. This is a running comic strip about a young freelance translator named Mox. The strip was created by Alejandro Moreno-Ramos, an electromechanical engineer who translates from English and French into Spanish. The comic strip character Mox is also a young engineer with other possible similarities to Alejandro. But Mox is a little overeager to please clients with very low rates of 1 euro cent per word, and Alejandro takes special care to mention, "if you are interested in my translation services, please note that Alejandro's rates are higher than Mox's :)"

Check out the running comic strip called Mox's Blog at http://mox.ingenierotraductor.com/

Translation Cartoonist Tony Beckwith

Tony Beckwith is a translator, interpreter, writer, voice talent, and cartoonist in Austin, Texas. If you haven't seen Tony's cartoons in the GALAxy Newsletter or other translation industry publications, you can see a small archive of them here on his site. Not all of the cartoons are related to translation and interpretation, but here is a sampling of Tony's translation-related cartoons (posted with Tony's permission):

Um...the speaker just told a joke that can't be translated...
please, everyone laugh, or I'll be in big trouble!".

For not spell-checking my translations
before sending them to the client. And you?

Check out more in Tony's comic archives:

• The translator's nightmare
• Interpretation quality control
• Complaining about the source text
• Discount translation

Thank you, Tony!

It would be great to see more consistent translation-related cartoons from syndicated cartoonists (or to get more cartoonists like Tony to become syndicated). One of these syndicated rarities is a favorite of mine by Non Sequitur's Wiley Miller called The Fine Art of Interpretation

Updated List of Salary & Compensation Surveys for the Translation Industry

Salary & compensation data can sometimes be difficult to find in the translation industry, but it does exist. To help you out, T&I Business's list of Salary & Compensation Surveys for the Translation Industry has recently been updated to include links to more than 15 surveys. You'll find that some of these surveys, like sites on the also recently updated list of Best Job Sites for Translation Management & Sales, include information for not only translators and interpreters, but also for less commonly known positions. In a presentation we have given together (at various seminars for translation students and also at the 2007 ATA Conference), Elizabeth M. Taylor, Clemencia Macias, and I have urged students and newcomers to the translation industry to consider some of these less commonly known job titles:

• Project Manager / Interpreter Manager
• Project Coordinator / Interpreter Coordinator
• Quality Assurance Manager
• Vendor Manager / Recruiter / Certification Manager
• Tester Evaluator
• Training Manager
• Localization Engineer
• Software Tester
• Web Producer
• Terminologist
• Multilingual Typesetter
• Account Manager / Sales Rep
• Voice Talent, Subtitler, or Other Media Related Positions
• Entrepreneur (Start your own company!) ...or try starting your own business under an established brand as part of something like the Elanex Certified Partner Program. The entrepreneurs and the sales people are those who have a shot at becoming the rainmakers and earning the most money in this industry.

Many students and industry newcomers have never even heard of these options, so it helps to spread the word and educate them about the possibilities. For my part, I know I hadn't considered more than half these job titles when I first decided to enter the industry.

The slides for the presentation mentioned above can be found here under the incredibly succinct title "Breaking into the Industry: How to Gain Experience when Employers will Not Give You Experience without Previous Experience"

T&I Business attempts to include reader input so that these resources continually improve and provide value to the translation community. If you know of additional surveys or job sites that should be listed here, please add a comment with a link and then subscribe above via email or RSS to be notified of the updated lists.

CSA Reveals New Ranking of Top 30 Language Services Companies

The industry always loves to see the new rankings posted by Common Sense Advisory. The 2009 rankings (using financial data from 2008) have been compiled by Renato Beninatto and Nataly Kelly and have been expanded from 25 to 30 translation and interpretation companies. You can find them here: Ranking of Top 30 Language Services Companies

Clichés and Pet Peeves Lost in Translation

My grandmother always said that the biggest problem with a pet peeve is that we pet it. We love it and caress it and nurture it so that it grows and takes up more of our lives than it should. Well, I'm going to pet one of these pet peeves today by hypocritically using the same translation cliché that peeves me.

Many translation professionals like me cringe in pain and disgust every time they see the cliché "lost in translation." It is overused by media, and I'm not the first to gripe about this. Whenever it appears in an industry article, that article is considered to be pandering and downgraded to perceived amateur status. As a matter of fact, many translation professionals who read the title of this article will skip it because they can´t stand to read yet another article with that cliché in the title. However, this article will probably be picked up by search engines and receive many hits from fans looking to see photos and news of Scarlett Johansson.

So what is it that irks us about this cliché? Is it the excessive repetition? Is it the fact that we can't find translation stories in the mainstream press that do not include the phrase? Or is it the negative tone of the phrase?

Maybe we need to come up with a more positive cliché to take its place. Some have suggested "found in translation." A former professor of mine suggested the more positive "gained in translation," and others have suggested "won in translation," but none of these have stuck.

So for now, here is a list of the most repeated negative translation clichés that emphasize problems in communication:

• The language barrier
• Lost in translation
• Greek to me
• Traduttore, traditore!
• The language gap

If I left out a phrase you think should be included, then please add it as a comment. Better yet, please add any suggested positive translation clichés that we could promote to replace these. Maybe you can think of something better than "won in translation" or "bridging the language gap."

On a more positive note, here is a peculiar satirical ad that looks at ways to "break the language barrier" MythBusters style:



No, 'Marketing Myths' is not a real show. It was an advertisement for SBS Radio created by Three Drunk Monkeys. Maybe you noticed the reference to a debunked translation myth...

Translation World Records Update

The list of translation world records has been updated. The list now includes not only the world's most translated book, the most translated author, the most languages simultaneously interpreted at a single event, and the largest translation company and contract, but also the most translated movie, the most translated magazine, and more. Click here to see the updated list of translation world records.

And be sure to subscribe via email or RSS feed to be notified when the list is updated again.

Financial Data for Public Translation Companies

Over the past couple months, translation companies have been releasing their numbers for 2008. This means that its about that time of year when the of people Common Sense Advisory will combine this public financial data with the private data they have gathered through sleuthing and soon release an updated list of the 25 largest translation companies.

Where can you find all this financial information if you are not a researcher at CSA? Financial reports and statements for translation companies are difficult to find because most translation companies are privately held. Here are links to financial data for a few of these rare publicly traded companies:

Translation, localization, and interpretation providers

• Language Line (SEC Filings, Google Finance)
• Lionbridge, NASDAQ:LIOX (SEC Filings, Reuters, Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance)
• SDL (London Stock Exchange, Reuters, Google Finance)
• RWS Group (London Stock Exchange, Reuters, Google Finance)
• Honyaku Centre, 2483 (Investor Relations, Google Finance)

Translation technology providers

• Systran, RAN (London Stock Exchange, Reuters, Yahoo! Finanace, Google Finance)
• Imageware Systems, IWSY (SEC Filings, Reuters, Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance)
• Babylon, BBYL (Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Yahoo! Finance)
• WizCom, WZM (Investor Relations, Reuters, Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance)

Sign Language Providers

• Purple Communications, PRPL (SEC Filings, Reuters, Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance)

Other public companies whose primary service is not translation, but they still provide translation services to some significant degree

• DynCorp, DCP (SEC Filings, Reuters, Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance)
  $2B company that partnered with McNeil Technologies to create Global Linguist Solutions and win the INSCOM "five-year contract, with a maximum value of $4.6 billion and a current awarded value of $3.5 billion."
• SAIC, SAI (SEC Filings, Reuters, Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance)
  $9B company that in 2009 completed acquisition of SM Consulting, which earned approximately $50M annually by providing linguistic services to US military
• Bowne, BNE (SEC Filings, Reuters, Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance)
  yes, in spite of selling BGS to Lionbridge, Bowne still reported 16% growth and $17M in 2008 translation revenue
• L-3 Communications, LLL (SEC Filings, Reuters, Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance)
  yes, L-3 lost prime contractor status on that huge army translation contract to Global Linguist Solutions, but they still provide teh same services as a subcontractor
• Comsys IT Partners, CITP (SEC Filings, Reuters, Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance)
  acquired ASET International in 2008
• BioAuthorize, BAZH (SEC Filings, Reuters, Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance)
  tech company yet to generate any revenue, but offering an iPhone translation app as one of their main products
• Prestige International, 4290 (Investor Relations, Google Finance)
  call center that also provides multilingual call support and some interpreting
• VanceInfo, VIT (Investor Relations, SEC Filings, Reuters, Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance)
  IT services company doing $100M in total revenue but only $4M in localization revenue
• China Bio-Med Regeneration Technology, 8158, formerly known as BM Intelligence, (FT, Reuters, Yahoo! Finance)
  $75M+ company lists translation as only one of a dozen primary services
• Benesse, BE8 (Investor Relations, Reuters, Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance)
  the multi-billion dollar parent company of the language company Berlitz and the translation company Simul International
• iOne Holdings, 0982 (Investor Relations, Reuters, Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance)
  financial printing company $30M in total revenue but only $4M in translation revenue
• WDB Co., 2475 (Reuters, Google Finance)
  manpower dispatching company doing $200 million and also providing translation

These financial statements quickly reveal the common knowledge that size alone does not solve all of a company's problems (including debt, stagnation, and even huge losses). Taken in context, some of this data can at least be used for benchmarking (margins, revenue per employee, growth rates, etc.). And some companies like Language Line include interesting notes about the state of the industry in their annual reports.

Additional basic financial stats (revenue, growth, and number of employees) for the largest translation and interpretation companies can be found in the following reports by CSA:

• Ranking of Top 25 Translation Companies (May 2008)
• Top 15 Telephone Interpreting Companies (July 2008)

If you know where else we can find such information, please leave a comment with a link. Also, be sure to subscribe above via RSS or email so that you are notified when this list is updated.

Bad translations revisited in video - Part II

In honor of Audi's recent translation blunder, here is a link to more humorous translation goofs on youtube. After you watch the clip below, you can see a similar video here or learn which famous bad translations never really happened in "Myths Debunked: Bad Translation Apocrypha."

Bad Translation Turns Racing Product Racist then Racy

A German company learned the hard way that its PR firm lacks cultural sensitivity and professional linguistic ability. Many car blogs (such as this one) reported this week that the German "tuning shop" AVUS Performance recently released a car with the name "White Power." After the controversy broke, AVUS released the following statement and apology:

Dear visitors, readers and customers,

We are very sorry and unfortunate for what has actually happened and is currently happening to our first press report. Due to a mistranslation of our latest project car - the Audi RS6 V10 biturbo - there were lots of radical right-wing rumors on all different blogs and pages that received our first press report. We distance ourselves from the project title - it was done by our press agency which obviously mistranslated our German project name into English. Furthermore we distance ourselves from anything that has to do with that group synonym and we would also like to say sorry if anyone got personally touched.

Deepest Regards

The AVUS PERFORMANCE Team

(emphasis added)

With such clumsy communication in that release, AVUS apparently still has a little more to learn. This tuning shop should certainly have some professional native English speaking translators work on all future translations of brands, press releases, and apologies so as not to "personally touch" anyone in the future. This is not the most embarrassing error that could have been made in the apology, but similar or worse wording in other situations could result in bad translations that result in unintentional innuendo and insults that can be just as damaging as perceived racial insensitivity.

Yes, that is reading way too much into the poor wording. Fortunately, this somewhat sloppy apology is certain to resolve more problems than it causes - sometimes customers understand when they are reading sloppy communication from non-native speakers and sometimes they don't. Most people will assume that AVUS meant to say "personally offended" or "personally affected" instead of "personally touched."

Even more optimistically, the awkward wording of the apology could actually be a stroke of genius in PR damage control intended to emphasize that the German decision makers at AVUS Performance are not native English speakers and therefore the company should not be held accountable for poor English translations.

Correction - this post previously reported that Audi and its PR team were responsible for these errors. That was incorrect. It was actually the AVUS Performace "tuning shop" and its PR company that were responsible, as stated in the links above.