JTG, inc.

03/30/2021

The International Booker Prize 2021 | The Booker Prizes

The 2021 International Booker Prize longlist

I Live in the Slums by Can Xue, translated from by Karen Gernant & Chen Zeping
At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop, translated from by Anna Mocschovakis
The Pear Field by Nana Ekvtimishvili, translated from by Elizabeth Heighway
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez, translated from by Megan McDowell
When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut, translated from by Adrian Nathan West
The Perfect Nine: The Epic Gikuyu and Mumbi by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, translated from by the author, VINTAGE
The Employees by Olga Ravn, translated from by Martin Aitken
Summer Brother by Jaap Robben, translated from by David Doherty
An Inventory of Losses by Judith Schalansky, translated from by Jackie Smith, Quercus
Minor Detail by Adania Shibli, translated from by Elisabeth Jaquette
In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova, translated from by Sasha Dugdale
Wretchedness by Andrzej Tichý, translated from by Nichola Smalley
The War of the Poor by Éric Vuillard, translated from by Mark Polizzotti

I Live in the Slums by Can Xue, translated from Chinese by Karen Gernant & Chen Zeping, Yale University PressAt Night All Blood is Black by David Diop, translated from French by Anna Mocschovakis, Pushkin PressThe Pear Field by Nana Ekvtimishvili, translated from Georgian by Elizabeth Heighway, Peir...

10/20/2020

Launch of Website on Federally Funded Language Programs - United States Department of State

Launch of Website on Federally Funded Programs -- The United States is ramping-up study in , , , , , and more than 100 other languages. This effort will help the U.S. meet challenges, make our more effective, and ensure our economic prosperity by helping Americans improve their critical language skills. To make it easier to navigate the many opportunities available, the U.S. Department of State has launched a new website: Languages.State.Gov.

Languages.State.Gov The United States is ramping-up study in Mandarin, Russian, Arabic, Farsi, Hindi and more than 100 other languages. This effort will help the U.S. meet national security challenges, make our diplomacy more effective, and ensure our economic prosperity by helping Americans improve...

10/16/2020

Here's why proud Americans should learn Mandarin, other languages | Opinion

Here's Why Proud Americans Should Learn , Other , by Michael R. Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State.

One often-overlooked form of influence is the vigor and finesse in foreign affairs that comes from understanding our strategic competitors, as well as friends and partners, in the languages that formed their opinions, outlooks and plans.

10/15/2020

JTG, inc.

10/09/2020

As Meetings Rise Again, Two EU Institutions Treat Contract Interpreters Differently | Slator

As Meetings Rise Again, Two Institutions Treat Contract Differently

- The has decided to stop canceling long-term contracts for auxiliary conference interpreters (ACI) from September to December 2020

- The has decided to proceed with the cancelation of contracts on a rolling basis, applicable to 2019 long-term ACI contracts

European Commission honors long-term interpreter contracts to end of 2020. Parliament continues ending contracts; sets up paid online learning

10/08/2020

The subtle ways shapes us -- Languages have very different rules when it comes to gender – but does that have an impact on how we see the world?

Global languages fall into three categories with respect to gender: gendered languages like (where nouns and pronouns have a gender), genderless languages such as (where nouns and pronouns don’t have a marked gender), and natural gender languages like English (with gendered pronouns and genderless nouns). The gender structure of the language we’re speaking will have the effect of making us more or less aware of gender.

The languages we speak influence how we construct society, and can even set the precedent for gender equality in our social systems. In a 2011 study, Jennifer Prewitt-Freilino, associate professor at the Rhode Island school of design, along with colleagues, found that countries with gendered languages experienced higher average gender inequality. The study also revealed that natural gender languages like English experienced the most equality, although one might expect that genderless languages would be the most equal.

www.bbc.com/culture/article/20201006-are-some-languages-more-sexist-than-others

10/07/2020

The rules we know – but don’t know we know

- “Adjectives in English absolutely have to be in this order: opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun. So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But if you mess with that word order in the slightest you’ll sound like a maniac. It’s an odd thing that every English speaker uses that list, but almost none of us could write it out.”

- Reduplication in is when you repeat a word, sometimes with an altered consonant (lovey-dovey, fuddy-duddy, nitty-gritty), and sometimes with an altered vowel: bish-bash-bosh, ding-dang-d**g. If there are three words then the order has to go I, A, O. If there are two words then the first is I and the second is either A or O. Mish-mash, chit-chat, dilly-dally, shilly-shally, tip top, hip-hop, flip-flop, tic tac, sing song, ding d**g, King Kong, ping pong.

There are so many tenses you can use without even thinking about it, and almost certainly without being able to name them. But then you’d happily say “I realised I’d been being watched” without breaking sweat or blinking. Think how daunting this is for people learning .

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20160908-the-language-rules-we-know-but-dont-know-we-know

10/06/2020

Proficiency1

Make yourself essential -- Online for national security and risk intelligence professionals from Proficiency1, a Division of JTG, Inc.

Professional development for national security and risk intelligence

10/05/2020

Foreign Words And Phrases Now Used In... | Lexico

Foreign Words And Phrases Now Used In -- Over the centuries the English has assimilated words and phrases from a variety of other languages.

al dente - : (of food) cooked so as to be still firm when bitten (literally ‘to the tooth’)

entente cordiale - : a friendly understanding between states

verboten- : forbidden

and many more,...

There are many words used in English that started out their lives in other languages. Find out the meanings and original languages of some of the most common.

10/02/2020

Usage | Lexico

Lexico.com is a new collaboration between Dictionary.com and Oxford University Press to help users worldwide with everyday challenges. Lexico is powered by Oxford’s free and dictionaries and features multi-language dictionary, thesaurus, and content.

This section of Lexico gives you lots of advice, helping you to avoid making some of the most common mistakes of usage. Do you worry about the correct use of hopefully, for example, or wonder what the difference is between affect and effect or flaunt and flout? Are you uncertain about whether to say different from or different than or if you should say ‘a historic event’ or ‘an historic event’? And if you’ve ever been puzzled about cactuses versus cacti, go to Plurals of foreign words.

Affect or effect? Complement or compliment? Imply or infer? Its or it’s? This section will help you avoid the most common mistakes in language usage.

10/01/2020

Nüshu: China’s secret female-only language

Nüshu, 's secret female-only -- Throughout history, women in rural Hunan Province used a coded script to express their most intimate thoughts to one another. Today, this once-“dead” language is making a comeback.

Nüshu is a phonetic script read right to left that represents an amalgamation of four local dialects spoken across rural Jiangyong. Each symbol represents a syllable and was written using sharpened bamboo sticks and makeshift ink from the burnt remains left in a wok.

Nüshu provided a way for women to cope with domestic and social hardships and helped to maintain bonds with friends in different villages.

Throughout history, women in rural Hunan Province used a coded script to express their most intimate thoughts to one another. Today, this once-“dead” language is making a comeback.

09/30/2020

The ATA Podcast

September 30th is as well as .

To celebrate International Day 2020, the host of the American Translators Association podcast, Matt Baird, interviewed ATA Past President Nick Hartmann for a look back at his career and the translation and industry—from the days of fax machines and modems in the early 1980s to the current age of specialization and machine translation.

Ms Muriel Jerome-O'Keeffe, the founder and former CEO of JTG, served on the board of the ATA, the largest trade association in the industry, as Director and President.

The ATA Podcast is a behind-the-scenes look at how the association works.

09/30/2020

Language Courses Adapt to Connect Students Across Screens and Across Cultures | News | The Harvard Crimson

Courses Adapt to Connect Students Across Screens and Across Cultures -- As Harvard students and faculty settle into virtual classrooms this fall, language instructors across several departments in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences have been developing new methods of engaging students virtually.

“There is less room for being spontaneous, and that's one thing that we are all missing."

“Emotion, surprise, doubt, questions — all that information is lost in Zoom when you can’t see them all together at the same time.”

“Within , students are all muted, because this is not a spoken language class, so everyone can truly immerse themselves into .”

As Harvard students and faculty settle into virtual classrooms this fall, language instructors across several FAS departments have been developing new methods of engaging students virtually.

09/29/2020

A debate on name order highlights an old translation issue

A debate on name order highlights an old issue -- New order: Defense Minister Taro Kono has been a proponent for getting the media to follow naming conventions, which would make him Defense Minister Kono Taro.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs says that in this regard Japan is aligning itself with other East Asian countries that put family names first, including China, South Korea and Vietnam, embracing the traditional values that hold the importance of family over that of the individual.

Ultimately, if Japanese people want to be referred to by their last names first in English, it’s worth respecting. But it’s still important for translation to highlight connections rather than differences between cultures.

Last name, first? Some Japanese people would like to see their linguistic traditions better reflected in English-language media.

09/28/2020

Words we think we know, but can't pronounce: the curse of the avid reader

Words we think we know, but can't pronounce: the curse of the avid reader -- Do you know how to say apropos? What about awry? The writers at the Guardian want to know which words you’ve mispronounced – and how you found out your mistake.

Do you know how to say apropos? What about awry? We want to know which words you’ve mispronounced – and how you found out your mistake

09/25/2020

What does a linguist do? | OUPblog

What does a do? - Many academic linguists do research on sound structure, grammar and meaning, language acquisition, language use or the history and structure of a particular language. Some linguists teach linguistics, or foreign languages or English as a second (ESL). Careers in ESL or TESOL (as it is also known) can be as close as your own community or can take you around the globe.

Linguists may serve the public interest, by helping to document, preserve, or revitalize dialects and endangered languages or by training teachers and developing curriculum materials. They may work in government service analyzing codes, documents, texts, or tapes for national security. Some linguists work on matters of public and consumer safety, helping to make messages clearer, fairer, and more inclusive.

Linguists get asked that question a lot. Sometimes by family members or potential in-laws. Sometimes by casual acquaintances or seatmates on a plane (for

09/24/2020

How Arabic is a window on the world

How is a window on the world -- A chance find in a Damascus bookshop is a reminder that to study Arabic is to be drawn into a wider and vibrant multicultural world.

Today, Arabic is mostly thought of as the of the Arab world and the liturgical language of Islam. But Arabic, and its literary heritage, is much more than a national or religious language – it is a classical and global cosmopolitan language with a vibrant culture that spans a millennium.

The spread of Arabic and its complex interactions with different cultures in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas challenges us to think of Arabic studies differently.

A University of Melbourne expert's chance find in a Damascus bookshop is a reminder that to study Arabic is to be drawn into a wide, vibrant multicultural world

09/23/2020

Jerome-O'Keeffe

09/21/2020

EXPLAINED: Why France's passion for dubbing films is far from dying out

Why France's passion for dubbing films is far from dying out -- Historically France has been known and criticized by some for its enthusiastic dubbing of movies, but times are changing and streaming has led to more people watching subtitled original versions. But is it really time to say adieu to dubbing stars?

Historically France has been known and criticised by some for its enthusiastic dubbing of movies, but times are changing and streaming has led to more people watching subtitled original versions. But is it really time to say adieu to French dubbing stars, asks Olivia Sorrel Dejerine?

09/18/2020

European Day of Languages

European Day of is marked on 26 September every year. Numerous events celebrate linguistic diversity in Europe and encourage learning.

European Day of Languages is marked on 26 September every year. Numerous events celebrate linguistic diversity in Europe and encourage language...

09/17/2020

French languages maps

The joy of , in a dozen maps -- Isogloss cartography shows diversity, richness, and humor of the French

Isogloss cartography shows diversity, richness, and humour of the French language

09/16/2020

A Life In Translation: How Mini Krishnan Opened New Worlds For Readers

A Life In : How Mini Krishnan Opened New Worlds For Readers -- Oxford University Press’s looks back at her four-decade-long career and the books she helped bring to life.

Krishnan has dipped her toes in many , translations from Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Konkani, Marathi, Gujrati, Bengali, Odia, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, Dogri and Tulu (unpublished). Her process of editing is long and meticulous, more so in books from languages that she cannot read.

Translation, in Krishnan’s words, “is essentially a re-conceptualization of some untranslatable original, a feat of ‘linguistic yoga’, as every comes with its own idiosyncrasies of grammar, syntax and vernacular”.

She believes that translators are creators and “second writers”.

Oxford University Press’s Mini Krishnan looks back at her four-decade-long career and the books she helped bring to life.

09/15/2020

The Secret to Learning Any New Language May Be Your Motivation - EdSurge News

The Secret to Learning Any New May Be Your Motivation --If you want to effortlessly become an expert in a new language, you’re probably too late. That’s an opportunity largely reserved for children.

And yet, adults regularly set out to study a second (or third, or fourth) language. They embark on the difficult journey for different reasons. Some want to gain better job prospects, others seek to socialize in new circles, while still others just want an educational way to entertain themselves.

Research is revealing that these reasons may influence how far someone is able to travel toward proficiency. So programs intended to make that process easier and faster are tapping into the science of motivation to improve their methods. That includes the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center which helps members of the gain proficiency in new languages in as little time as nine months.

If you want to effortlessly become an expert in a new language, you’re probably too late. That’s an opportunity largely reserved for children. And yet, ...

09/14/2020

Word on the street: Covid pandemic has altered the way we live, and also our lexicon

Word on the street: has altered the way we live, and also our lexicon -- Popular pandemic words:

Covidiot - Someone who hoards goods and ignores warnings about public health safety

Maskhole - One who wears their face mask inappropriately

Face naked - Facial exposure because of not wearing a mask in public

Body mullet - Formally dressed waist-up for conference calls and wearing informals below

Covideo - A short video of a quarantined individual’s child which could be emotional or loveable

Herd immunity - The resistance to the spread of a contagious disease if the maximum population is immune to it, especially through vaccination

Shield - Protective covering as a measure to protect oneself from contagion

Community spread - Widespread transmission within the members of a community

Superspreading event - An infected person, or superspreader, who may or may not have symptoms, but mass infects others

Emotional distancing - Being emotionally distant by putting a relationship on hold or refraining from having a conversation

Coronageddon - A desperate end-of-time situation created by political, economic and social devastation due to around the world

Domino distance - When the person in queue behind you stands too close

The pandemic has not only altered the way we live but also our lexicon. Body mullet, maskhole, covideo, domino distance, herd immunity, covidiot, oronageddon are just some of the neologisms that have taken over our language and lives

09/11/2020

EU Consumers Push Back on Big Pharma Bid to Relax Covid-19 Translation Rules | Slator

EU Consumers Push Back on Big Pharma Bid to Relax Rules -- A week after the European Commission made a downpayment for 300 million doses of a potential Covid-19 vaccine from British drug manufacturer AstraZeneca, pharmaceutical companies have requested regulators to relax the rules that require drugs sold in the to come with documents in the bloc’s 24 official

“It is important that consumers have information available in their and on paper about possible side effects of vaccines” — Monique Goyens, Director General, The European Consumer Organization (BEUC).



Slator

Drug manufacturers want EU regulators to relax translation rules for Covid-19 vaccines; EU consumer group pushes back.

09/10/2020

Arthur Goldhammer on the art of translation

In , he found his raison d’être. Arthur Goldhamme looks back on a life bringing the work of Thomas Piketty and others to readers of English. -- "I think the essential criteria of a good translation are, first, to preserve the music of the original text. Second, particularly in translating nonfiction, to convey with maximum possible clarity, the ideas that are embodied in the text. And third, not to tamper with the author’s way of representing him or herself. By faithfully representing the author’s voice and manner of self-presentation, the is discharging a duty to represent the author faithfully. For me, that’s really essential."

Thomas Piketty translator Arthur Goldhammer talks about his circuitous route to success in a field he never studied.

09/09/2020

Jay Rubin: An academic’s path to translation

Jay Rubin who is a professor emeritus of literature at Harvard University, took his first steps in translating with “Sanshiro” by Natsume Soseki as a young graduate student. As a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago in the late ’60s, Rubin studied under the scholar and Edwin McClellan, who is perhaps best known for his translation of Soseki’s “Kokoro.”

Most difficult word to translate: “Natsukashii (nostalgia). In Japanese there’s such a wealth of emotional intention behind that one word that is impossible to translate into English in the same way.”

Advice to new translators: “You can’t depend on the grammar of Japanese to guide you in choosing grammatical constructs in English. You have to translate images, ideas, tone and mood — the most enjoyable and intangible elements of literature — into which allows (or forces) you to immerse yourself. The best preparation for the job is to practice writing your own .”

To introduce our readers to translators of Japanese literature, we'll be highlighting one working translator each month, starting with Jay Rubin.

09/08/2020

Often, It's Not What You Say, But 'How You Say It'

Often, It's Not What You Say, But 'How You Say It' -- For people who speak in what others perceive as being a non-native or a non-standard way of speaking, often that can feel as if people are judging you. And in fact, people might be judging you. But so much of our understanding of communication is bidirectional.

It's about the listener, too. And so there's a lot of evidence that when somebody doesn't like the way somebody's speaking, or thinks that they're speaking in the wrong way, they can shut down as a listener and stop trying to listen. And so in that sense, people can really overlook qualified people in employment contexts and in many different contexts in life, because they think they're not doing a good job communicating, when in fact the person listening might not be doing a good job listening.

Psychology professor Katherine Kinzler's new book looks at how people sound when they talk — and how that affects the way they're perceived. She says even children form biases around language use.

09/04/2020

'Culture is language': why an indigenous tongue is thriving in Paraguay

' is ': why an tongue is thriving in . The Paraguayan language is a rare regional success story. But its own popularity is a problem for smaller . -- Elsewhere in the Americas, European colonial languages are pushing native languages towards extinction, but Paraguayan Guaraní – a language descended from several indigenous tongues – remains one of the main languages of 70% of the country’s population.

Paraguay’s 19 surviving indigenous groups each have their own tongue, but six of them are listed by Unesco as severely or critically endangered. One language, Guaná, has just a handful of speakers left.

And unlike other widely spoken native tongues – such as , or the languages – it is overwhelmingly spoken by non-indigenous people.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/03/paraguay-guarani-indigenous-language

The Paraguayan Guaraní language is a rare regional success story. But its own popularity is a problem for smaller languages

09/03/2020

Lukashenka or Lukashenko? Why Anglophone media use different spellings for the embattled Belarusian leader · Global Voices

Lukashenka or Lukashenko? Why Anglophone media use different spellings for the embattled Belarusian leader

The answer: It depends.



https://globalvoices.org/2020/08/20/lukashenko-or-lukashenka-why-international-media-use-different-spellings-for-belarus-embattled-leaders-name/

The answer: It depends.

09/02/2020

The fragile state of ‘contact languages’

The fragile state of ‘contact languages’. These linguistic mash-ups are at high risk of extinction. The race to save them is a matter of time, with more at stake than words. -- The origin stories of these linguistic mash-ups vary. Some are peaceful, such as when groups meet for trade and need a lingua franca: Nigerian Pidgin English, for example, allows speakers of over 500 tongues to communicate. But others were born of tragedy and violence – like Haitian , Gullah Geechee, Jamaican Creole and many others that arose from the Atlantic slave trade, when West African peoples combined several tongues with English, creating everyday often used among slaves.

Today, many of these contact languages are lost. Only 200 or so remain – scores of which are at risk of extinction. Linguists and anthropologists who traditionally have focused on the fate of more formal languages are paying increased attention: studying them with greater intensity and working with indigenous groups, international agencies, independent non-profits, academics and others to preserve them.

These linguistic mash-ups are at high risk of extinction. The race to save them is a matter of time, with more at stake than words.