Language services help the world go ’round. We’ve written before about how interpreters and translators help thwart public health outbreaks, end bomb scares, communicate with populations affected by oil spills and earthquakes, enable fans to enjoy the World Cup, and assist diplomats with international relations snafus. We thought we’d seen it all, until some bright [...]

Yesterday, CNN and other news outlets reported that a U.S. federal agency sent memos to translation providers requesting their help in locating nine translators. The language pair needed: African-American English (AAE) into North American English. Is such a thing really necessary? And, how likely is it that the government will actually be able to locate [...]

From the land that brought us Nokia and F-Secure, now comes Helsinki-based XIHA. Its claim to fame is in being this planet’s first truly multilingual social network. “Multilingual” in that you can view all content in up to 56 languages and counting, while you enjoy the user interface in 42. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter also [...]

After nearly three months and millions of gallons of oil, it looks like the leak in the Gulf of Mexico may finally stop gushing. While BP’s blunders have caused untold damage to the environment, its failure to provide language services continues to put human life at risk.