Document creation, editing, and translation
What is the Speech Accent Archive? The Speech Accent Archive is the brainchild of Steven Weinberger, a linguist at George Mason University. Weinberger, his researchers, and scores of volunteers have created an online archive of different accents of English speakers. Each volunteer reads the same elicitation paragraph, a four-sentence, 69-word text that “contains most of [...]
In this post, I discuss two translation apps that are being tested at the 2012 Olympics in London. Each one is designed to help speakers of different languages communicate. All that users need is a smartphone with the downloaded app. Olympic Translator This translation app was designed by Giovanni Tata, a professor at Brigham Young [...]
What is the Endangered Languages Project? Approximately half of the world’s estimated 7,000 languages may disappear from the planet in the next 100 years. The Endangered Languages Project, an effort spearheaded by Google and the Alliance for Linguistic Diversity to document languages at risk of extinction, seeks to document the vitality of these languages. The online resource is [...]
What are sloppy microchips? Does the term “sloppy microchips” turn you off? If so, maybe you would prefer a mild, indirect, or vague substitution for offensive, unattractive, or blunt words: the euphemism! A fascinating article in The Economist details the advent of “sloppy” microchips, which tolerate errors while operating. The trick will be controlling when [...]
In a recent English-language release of the digital book War and Peace, the verb “kindle” became “Nook.” It seems that an editor performed a search-and-replace for “Kindle” and introduced “Nook” into the manuscript, producing the following sentences that are confusing for the reader and embarrassing for Nook maker Barnes and Noble: “He has retreated and [...]
According to an infographic in the online magazine Génération Nouvelles Technologies, Asians represent 45% of the world’s Internet users (see Figure 1). Far behind are Europeans (23%), North Americans (13%), and Africans (6%). See figures below for Internet users by region and language. Internet users by region Internet users by language English is still [...]
Vonage, the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider, offers a free transcription service to its customers. Subscribers can sign up for free email delivery to receive text versions of callers’ voicemail messages. I have been using Vonage for over seven years, mainly because it offers very affordable rates on long-distance calling when I want the [...]
The pros and cons of Google Translate have implications for professionals in the language services industry. But the tool’s pluses and minuses also have implications for everyday users, from language learners to professionals in various industries. See the pros and cons of Google Translate or read RedLine’s verdict on the tool. Google’s translation tool represents [...]
“Yes,” says University of Texas at Austin psychologist James Pennebaker, who, along with Roger J. Booth and Martha E. Francis, developed the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software that performs text analysis. Using speech from people attending speed-dating functions, Pennebaker has found that those who use certain categories of words (e.g., pronouns) at similar rates [...]
Certain languages are more conducive to tweeting than others, according to a recent article in The Economist. Chinese and Japanese are especially useful for micro-blogging due to their inherent brevity relative to other languages. (Twitter is blocked in China.) Those who tweet in Arabic and Korean can also make their micro-posts relatively concise. Romance languages [...]
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