English, Spanish and Portuguese comprise three of the top five languages on the Web. Let’s take a look at some statistics reflecting these languages’ influence on the Internet.

English

• Number of native English-speaking users on the Web: 565.0 million (as of May 31, 2011)
  % of English-speaking Internet users with respect to total population of English speakers: 43.4%
• User growth from 2000 to 2011: 301.4%
• Percentage of total Internet users: 26.8% (Overall ranking among top 10 languages: #1)
• % of websites available in English (as of December 31, 2011): 56.6%

Spanish

• Number of native Spanish-speaking users on the Web: 165.0 million (as of May 31, 2011)
• % of Spanish-speaking Internet users with respect to total population of Spanish speakers: 39.0%
• User growth from 2000 to 2011: 807.4%
• Percentage of total Internet users: 7.8% (Overall ranking among top 10 languages: #3)
• % of websites available in Spanish (as of December 31, 2011): 4.6%

Portuguese

• Number of native Portuguese-speaking users on the Web: 82.6 million (as of May 31, 2011)
• % of Portuguese-speaking Internet users with respect to total population of Portuguese speakers: 32.5%
• User growth from 2000 to 2011: 990.1%
• Percentage of total Internet users: 3.9% (Overall ranking among top 10 languages: #5)
• % of websites available in Portuguese (as of December 31, 2011): 2.0%

A quick analysis of the numbers points to the following facts that translation buyers should be aware of:

» Figures show that there’s still a great deal of room for growth among all three languages, in terms of the number of users and the amount of content available. Although English leads the charge as the “language of the Web,” not even half of all English speakers are on the ‘net, and Spanish and Portuguese lag even farther behind. As the economic outlook continues to improve in Latin America and Brazil, user growth among speakers of Spanish and Portuguese should be particularly strong.

» Despite an explosion in the number of Internet users among the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking populations over the last decade, access to content in those languages remains severely limited. Those businesses looking for a competitive edge will invest in translations of their web content into Spanish and/or Portuguese.

Statistical data courtesy of Internet World Stats and Wikipedia

More information on the English Language
More information on the Spanish Language
More information on the Portuguese Language

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Even in the realm of words, 2011 has been a revolutionary year.

Indeed, some words that originated in the spontaneous and unorthodox social media have been finally accepted by the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which is by far the most formal dictionary of the English language.

So, slangy words like LOL and OMG are now enjoying the same privileges as businesslike initials that were accepted a long time ago, like FYI and ASAP. That is what I call a linguistic democracy.

The list of words recently accepted by OED, as of December, contains compound nouns that certainly reflect our current times. Take for instance “abatement notice,” “adaptive expectations,” “adult child,” “cyber-bully,” “worried well,” and “zero emission.”

Under the form cyber, the dictionary even listed “cyberfriend,” “cyberlover” and “cybersnob.” All these sorts of sidereal words explain the acceptance of another word also quite alien like “abhuman,” which means partially human. Then, next to “adultlike,” there is this other intriguing word “adulticide,” which I wrongly assumed as related to the killing of adults, by that I mean humans, but the dictionary defines it as “an agent used to kill the adult forms of a pest or parasite.”

This year’s linguistic openness has apparently brought 400 new words into the OED. As its chief editor John Simpson proudly announces, there are over 102,000 new and revised entries “and counting” since March 2000.

More spicy words like “sexting” and “mankini” have also been recently added to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. However, I could not find them when I searched the online version of the OED.

What I did find is the addition of more Spanish words.

So, along with words already widely accepted in the English language, such as bonanza, corral, mucho, patio, sombrero, and torero (which my computer does not underline as I write them), new words have been added, like “abundante cautela” (extreme caution), “abuela” (grandmother) and “abuelo” (grandfather).

Curiously, two more words have been included only in their female form, such as “abuelita” (dear grandmother) and “gordita” (little fat woman).

Believe it or not, “gordita” is an affectionate nickname quite common in Latin American countries. Why? Well, food is not a stigma when hunger remains a social issue.

Among the 400 new entries of 2011, we also can find old words with new meanings. That is the case of “bruising,” “charger,” “speculate” and “warrant.”

I wonder when “occupy” will join this list of new senses. Without a doubt, this verb has lost all naivety after Occupy Wall Street and its different variations appeared this year in the urban American landscape.

By the way, there is a rural version of this movement in my own country. As I am writing this column, thousands of farmers in northern Peru are occupying a series of lakes in the Andes, at more than 12,000 feet above sea level, to defend their rights to water against a mining project.

Yes, 2011 has been a turbulent year with plenty of raised fists and even pepper sprays. But while claims and chants might come and go, some new words and meanings are here to stay.

Alessia Leathers is a Peruvian journalist and a published writer. She moved to Cape Coral in 2003.

Source: http://www.news-press.com/article/20111225/NEWS0101/312250030/Found-translation-2011-year-word-acceptance-slang-social-media?odyssey=mod%7cnewswell%7ctext%7c%7cs

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• Facebook’s Newest Machine Translation Tool Falls Flat

Just in case you need more proof that most machine translation tools don’t quite cut the mustard, the latest attempt by social media giant Facebook to incorporate machine translation (MT) into its platform fails miserably with most languages.

In an effort to help pages connect better with their fan base—often found scattered across the globe—Facebook recently introduced machine translation, powered by Bing. With just one click, users can get an automatic translation of status updates and comments. Facebook plans to roll out this feature to all profiles (not just pages) in the near future.

There’s just one problem: most of the translations are unintelligible. Posts on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are rife with slang, and Bing’s machine translation tool simply isn’t up to task. An analysis of Bing’s performance by the site Lexiophiles shows that Bing only gets it right about 50% of the time, leaving users confused and, at worst, possibly misled by faulty translations. Interestingly, out of the ten languages tested, posts translated from Spanish to English fared worst of all, with less than 10% of the rendered text considered intelligible.

For greater accuracy, Facebook will also be implementing a feature that allows bilingual users to offer an alternative translation. If other users endorse the accuracy of the crowdsourced translation, it will take the place of Bing’s original translation the next time the “Translate” option is clicked. Page administrators will be able to manage crowdsourced translations through a “manage translations” link below the posts on pages they control.

One of the great arguments in favor of MT has always been that it can at least offer users a gist of the conversation when no other means of translation is available. It seems that, at least for now, Bing’s tool doesn’t even offer that to Facebook’s users.

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Transpanish is pleased to announce a new page describing the company’s manual translation services. As the business world continues to diversify, so do the customer bases and workforces of many companies, necessitating the translation of employee handbooks, technical manuals, and guides into other languages. We offer companies Spanish-English and English-Spanish translations of manuals, handbooks, and other types of technical materials.

Manuals and other technical documentation can be quite complex, and they require skill to be successfully translated. We promise the same high quality, accuracy and reliability with our manual translations that you’ve come to expect from all of the translations provided by Transpanish. Take a look at our page about manual translations for more details about this service.

If you’re in need of a handbook or manual translation, visit our Manual Translation webpage. Would you like a project quote? Simply click on the “Free Translation Quote” tab above.

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Professionals specializing in court interpretation and translation provide an extremely important service during criminal justice proceedings. However, despite these professionals’ best efforts, controversy over the interpretation of testimony or translation of legal documents frequently arises in court cases.

Mark Cohen, a New York defense attorney with Spanish fluency, remarked that interpreters encounter occasional difficulties when interpreting for people who come from a different region of the Spanish-speaking world. For example, Mr. Cohen noted that when a South American interpreter assists a client from, for instance, the Spanish Caribbean, the interpreter might struggle with slang words or phrasing unique to that region. To avoid this problem, it is advisable to secure the services of a court interpreter who hails from the same region as the person requiring language assistance, whenever possible.

Defense attorney Arnold J. Levine noted that a question that crops up during jury selection is whether potential jurors can put aside their personal knowledge of a foreign language and accept the interpretation and/or translation presented by the language professionals involved in the case. Jurors who come to doubt the accuracy of a court interpreter’s performance can have disastrous effects on a trial – including the declaration of a mistrial.

Read more at the New York Times’ City Room Blog.

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The correct use of the apostrophe in English is problematic for both natives and English-language learners alike. Refresh your understanding of the rules of apostrophe use with the following simple explanations.

Apostrophes are used to form contractions, the shortened form of one or two words created by omitting letters. The apostrophe takes the place of the missing letters.

can’t = cannot

it’s = it is

don’t = do not

could’ve = could have

‘til = until

Apostrophes also indicate possession. To form possessives, follow these rules:

Add  ’s to the singular form:

the boy’s book

Katie’s cat

Chris’s coat (Chris’ coat is also acceptable in this case.)

Add  ’s to the plural forms that do not end in -s:

the children’s toys

the mice’s tails

Add ’ to plural nouns that end in -s:

the two dogs’ bones

my sisters’ husbands

Add ’s to the last noun to indicate joint possession of an object:

Mike and Jenny’s house

Apostrophes denote the plurals of lowercase letters. When a letter appears in lowercase, form the plural by adding ’s after the letter. Capitalized letters, numbers and symbols do not need apostrophes.

Non-native Spanish speakers have trouble trilling their r’s.

Mind your p’s and q’s.

The man claimed he saw three UFOs.

Disco was popular in the 1970s.

When NOT to use an apostrophe

Apostrophes should never be used with possessive pronouns such as its and hers because these words already indicate possession.

wrong: The team won it’s third title.

correct: The team won its third title.

Avoid randomly using apostrophes with plural nouns.

wrong: He rode six miles’ into town.

correct: He rode six miles into town.

Do you frequently make mistakes with apostrophes in your writing? Here are a couple of tips to use when proofreading:

• If you have a habit of leaving off apostrophes, check the words that end in -s or -es to see if they need an apostrophe.
• If you are guilty of using too many apostrophes, check each apostrophe to see if you can justify it with one of the rules mentioned above.

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Poor grammar, errant punctuation, and typographical errors all spell disaster for online sales. When it comes to Internet sales and marketing, shoddy websites filled with spelling gaffes rarely get a second chance to impress. In fact, most visitors make up their minds about the quality of a website in just six seconds. According to British Internet entrepreneur Charles Duncombe, just one spelling error on a company’s website can lead to a 50% decrease in online sales. He estimates that Internet retailers lose millions every week due to spelling slip-ups.

Consumers look to attention to detail in spelling and grammar as important indicators of a website’s credibility. Spelling mistakes and poor grammar sound alarm bells for potential customers concerned about spam or phishing. While there seems to be a more tolerant attitude toward spelling and grammar mistakes on social media sites such as Facebook, websites marketing products and services can’t afford to take a lax approach to spelling blunders.

For more information on this story, visit BBC News.

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As the competition in the global marketplace heats up, companies without a strategy for connecting with customers worldwide face a strong possibility of getting left behind. Savvy companies and organizations stand to capture upwards of a combined 650 million potential customers by incorporating Spanish and Portuguese translation into their business strategy. As the influence and economic power of emerging Spanish and Portuguese-speaking markets continues to grow, companies that invest in high-quality translations to target this audience will see dividends.

Spanish is the most widely spoken of the Romance languages, both in terms of the number of speakers and the number of countries in which it is the dominant language. With approximately 400 million native speakers worldwide, Spanish is currently the second most widely spoken language overall. At present, Portuguese ranks sixth among the world’s major languages, with some 250 million native speakers around the world. Portuguese and Spanish are both recognized by UNESCO as the fastest growing of the European languages.

Why Spanish Translation?

The expanding presence of the Spanish language coupled with increased Latino buying power has cemented the Hispanic demographic’s influence in the United States. U.S. Latinos‘ buying power is expected to reach $1 trillion this year. Given the Hispanic market’s incredible growth, size, and increasing purchasing power, businesses and organizations cannot afford to overlook this segment of the population.

As the emerging markets of Latin America, particularly Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, gain a stronger foothold, they become increasingly attractive sources of new clientele for those businesses looking to target new audiences. A well-crafted, Spanish translation done by a professional translator will help corporations and organizations communicate with the Hispanic community, both at home and abroad, to take advantage of the business opportunities provided by these rapidly expanding markets.

Why Portuguese Translation?

Over the last twenty years, Brazil has steadily grown to become Latin America’s largest economy. With a robust economic outlook and a population of about 190 million people, companies can no longer ignore Brazil. Given the country’s strong, stable currency and a growing middle class with a hunger for imported goods, reaching the Brazilian market appears to be more crucial than ever before for businesses. Although Brazil is the sole Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas, approximately one-half of South America’s inhabitants speak the language. In today’s global economy, it pays to be able to communicate effectively with the Portuguese-speaking population.

Brazil also expects a significant tourism boost over the next few years as the country plays host to two major international sporting events: the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Translation from Portuguese to a host of other languages will be necessary to accommodate the scores of foreign athletes, tourists and journalists who will descend upon Brazil for these events.

Translate for the Spanish and Portuguese markets to extend your business’ or organization’s reach, and connect with everyone from the customers right in your backyard to those in the far-flung corners of Latin America.

Are you looking for a Portuguese Translator? Visit TransPortuguese.
Are you looking for a Spanish Translator? Visit Transpanish.

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A recent study conducted by Eurobarometer, the European Commission’s survey research program, found that more than 50% of Internet users in the European Union (EU) sometimes access the web using a language other than their mother tongue. In addition, the study revealed that 90% of EU Internet users show a preference for websites featured in their native language.

Nonetheless, 44% of survey respondents sensed that they were “missing something interesting online” since a number of websites display information in a language they don’t comprehend.

Neelie Kroes, the European Commissioner for Digital Agenda, wrote, “If we are serious about making every European digital, we need to make sure that they can understand the web content they want. We are developing new technologies that can help people that cannot understand a foreign language.”

At the present time, the European Commission is funding 67 million euros’ worth of research projects to enhance translation techniques for online content, including the site iTranslate4, which generates machine translations of several European languages.

For more information on this topic, read this article on the news site Deutsche Welle.

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