Pan American Day and Pan American Week in the United States is observed by Presidential proclamation on April 14 and the week thereof. This observance commemorates the First International Conference of American States in 1889-90, which created the International Union of American Republics. Pan American Day and Week also commemorates the diplomatic ties and relations of the United States with the other countries of the Western Hemisphere, including Latin America.

Each year Pan American Day and Pan American Week set the moment when Americans of all ages and nationalities can strengthen the bonds of friendship. Americans from one end of the continent to the other, come to know each other better through special observances, classroom projects, club programs, plays and pageants, parades and social events.

As part of both, Latin America and the United States, JR Language Translations joins the Pan American Day and Week celebrations. We proudly and diligently provide, day after day, high-quality translation, localization and interpretation services to hundreds of clients along the Americas in Spanish, Portuguese, French, and many other languages, allowing effective communication that enables business, social, and diplomatic relations.

Let’s celebrate the cultural richness of the Americas and sing together the Pan American hymn!

Back in August, we wrote a post about Legal and Medical interpretation. Regarding medical interpretation, specifically, we presented an article about a program at the University of Rochester Medical Center were interpreters are hired to help lower admissions and readmission rates due to language barriers non-native English speakers may have. This practice was a success but, what happens if those non-native English speakers don’t have the language resources to even access medical care in the first place?

This is the problem the health insurance industry is facing now. As if choosing a health insurance wasn’t difficult enough, for those whose English or Spanish is not their native language, this process becomes exponentially more dreadful. Starting October 1, the Affordable Care Act will come into effect allowing people to compare multiple health care plans in one place. Until know the applications have been traditionally translated into Spanish, due to the ever-increasing amount of Spanish speakers in the United States but, it completely leaves out the 4 million Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the U.S. who speak other language than English.

The solution? Translating the application forms into the main foreign languages spoken in the United States among them Chinese, Arabic, Portuguese, French, Russian, Korean, and Farsi. Translation is the only way in which people who speak different languages can accurately communicate and get the right message across. We all know how important health care is so, the translation of these forms is not something insurance companies can “think about” or “do later on”, it is a vital necessity that should be addressed and solved immediately for the benefit of their potential insured people.

Let’s work together so everyone can have access to the same information, and therefore, access to the same benefits. We must push for better legislation and more comprehensive and affordable health care option that are accessible for everyone alike. Health care should not be an option, a luxury only those who can pay for it have, it is a right and we need to do whatever it is in our hands to make sure everyone enjoys it.

Every year in March, French people all over the world, as well as people who study French, celebrate French Language Week (“La Semaine de la Franchophonie” or “La Semaine de la Langue Française”). During this celebration, French institutes, universities, theaters and cinemas hold French film and play festivals, food and wine tastings, and French language workshops.

Following traditions and customs different countries start their week on different days, some do on Monday other on Sunday, due to that variance the festivity starts on March 8 and ends on March 24. Additionally, the International French Day is celebrated on March 20^th. Furthermore, UNESCO also set this day as the UN French Language Day because it coincided, in 2010, with the 40th anniversary of the International Organization of La Francophonie.

JR Language team joins the celebration with a special recognition to our French translators from France, Canada, Africa, and from all over the world. We thank them for their hard work, professionalism, and expertise, which allow us to deliver high-quality French translations to our clients every day of the year! Their wide range of subject matter expertise make us the first translation option for business clients and individuals for their legal, marketing, and technical translation needs.

Let’s celebrate together with the 200 million French speakers worldwide. Let’s promote the francophone culture and the beautiful language of Camus, Voltaire, Hugo, Dumas and many others great writers, artists and, of course our outstanding, professional French Translators!

On International Women’s Day, JR Language wants to take the opportunity to highlight the professional and valuable contribution of the women working for our translation agency. Founded by a woman, JR Language always looks for ways to recognize the women in our community and around the globe. Today we celebrate the success and achievements of the women in our team and of the many women translators and interpreters around the world.

As we all know, women are from Venus and men are from Mars; two different planets with very distinct characteristics. Humans are the same; gender somehow predisposes us and provides us with a set of skills and characteristics that makes us more inclined for certain tasks.  According to statistics from studentscholarships.org, 71% of translators, interpreters and terminologists in Canada are women. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find gender-related information for the United States or other nations but, we are convinced that this is the rule around the world given the proportion of women that we find in our team and the colleagues that we have met within the localization world.

There are many organizations dedicated to help and empower women. In the language industry we could mention Found in Translation, a Massachusetts-based program which helps low-income and homeless multilingual women become professional medical interpreters. This program was also founded by a woman, Nobel Prize nominee Kip Tiernan, a fierce advocate for social justice and we can’t stress enough about the amazing and noble job they are doing and the enormous difference they represent in the lives of all the women they have helped.

Whether it is because we are natural multitaskers or because we like to communicate (aka talk, now accredited to a gene), the truth is we love and enjoy helping others (and apparently language-related careers) and we excel at it!

Happy International Women’s Day to all our friends and colleagues!

JR Language Translation Services Inc.  will be attending the 2012 GALA Conference in Monaco from March 25^th to the 28th. GALA 2012 is the fourth annual Language of Business conference hosted by the Globalization and Localization Association (GALA). GALA promotes communication between its members, 275 companies in 50 countries .The conference will be a great forum to display multilingual strategies and proven tools to aid  global business efforts.

The conference will be covering important subjects  for the Language industry, some of the relevant topics of the gathering are: Machine Translation, Localization Standards, Globalization and content development, Quality in Translation, Multilingual and International SEO Strategies, cloud-based and server-based translation technology among others.

Jackie and Sergio from our company will participle in the CEO Forum, will go to the conference workshop “TAUS” Open Source Machine Translation Showcase on Sunday and will attend the 3 days of sessions.

If you are interested in meeting up with someone from JR language Translation Services during the conference, please contact jacqueline.dempaire@jrlanguage.com or sergio.ruffolo@jrlanguage.com

GILT is the acronym used to define the steps or processes required in software localization to produce a global product. These steps can be applied to any product or service that needs to be designed/used for a global audience. The acronym comes from the first letters of the words: Globalization, Internationalization, Localization and Translation.

Due to the Internet and communication speed, nowadays products and services can go global quickly but, should follow this ordered procedure for a successful globalization. We used LISA’s website (former Localization Industry Standards Association) to find accurate definitions:

• Globalization handles the process of marketing a product or company worldwide.
• Internationalization creates a product that can be marketed worldwide. The idea is to be able to change the language without redesigning the product.
• Localization adapts the product to the linguistic and cultural specifications of a given region.
• Translation is the process of reproducing a text from a source language into a target language.

Imagine the GILT process in a marketing agency for a product’s marketing material. The Development Department would undertake the Globalization stage. They would gather comments and suggestions from focus groups and distributors around the world to create the best product possible, taking into consideration the world market and demands.  Then, the Design Department would do the product’s Internationalization. Its task is to create the best marketing campaign suitable for all markets, in a very generic way, indicating the areas that will stay the same for all markets and the areas that need to be adapted or localized to a specific market. The Production Department will take over the Localization process, changing all the parts that need to be adapted according to the local market, including changes to ensure colors, graphics and other elements of the campaign do not offend the target audience; the text boxes are big enough to handle language expansion; and the text can be read left to right and vice versa. And, finally, the Translation will be done to reproduce the campaign to any particular language required for the project.

The GILT process requires a lot of coordination and planning but ensures the success of any globalization effort and allows timely control of all activities and potential problems.