Check out the latest and most interesting news of the week about Translating and Interpreting with AM Vietnam.
#1. Free Seminar: Interpreting Skills for Beginners
This is a free webinar for those who are interested or planning to start a career as an interpreter and want to learn the skills needed to become successful. The seminar will cover the basic rules that an interpreter needs to follow, as well as the indispensable skill sets for career development.
You will learn:
- Different forms of interpretation
- The role of an interpreter
- How to prepare for an interpreting session
- Do’s & Don’ts when interpreting
- Translation career direction
Organized by: Translit
Entrance fee: Free
Time: Tue, 22 Jun 2021, 5:00 – 6:00 PM
Location: Online
Registration at here
#2. Translators without Borders Partners with Memsource
In a recent announcement, Translators without Borders (TWB), a nonprofit organization providing translation services for humanitarian purposes, announced that it will use Memsource to improve its service delivery capacity for communities around the world that struggle with low literacy rates and underdeveloped technology. Memsource is an online system that provides effective translation tools and project management. Most of TWB’s nearly 60,000 translators give Memsource positive reviews, especially with its online and offline support. This is an essential feature for those who work in remote areas with unstable network connections.
“We are excited to be partnering with Translators without Borders and happy to know that our efforts and developments, especially in the area of MT enablement, can help contribute toward this worthy cause,” said David Čaněk, the chief executive officer of the Prague-based Memsource Group.
“Many translators working in marginalized languages have told us that they really struggle with online tools, mostly due to poor internet connections,” said Manuela Noske, the community manager at Translators without Borders. “This new translation management system will greatly improve access to all of our community members, while also giving them new skills and valuable experience to further their careers.”
#3. Fujitsu Launches New Translation System
The Japanese information technology and communications company Fujitsu recently launched a new speech translation system, notable for the fact that it’s a hands-free device that automatically detects and translates speech in more than ten different languages. Currently, the device is specialized for translation in medical settings, however the company also expects that it will be useful at popular tourist destinations.
The system consists of microphones, a tablet device which displays the translations, and a translation app featuring the machine translation (MT) system designed by Mirai Translate Co. This MT system was built using data and research from Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), which also conducted research used in developing another MT system released earlier this year, NEC’s DokoMinaPhone App.
A feature worth noticing is its highly accurate voice recognition system, utilizing technology that limits the acoustic distortion caused by background noise. Microphones set up throughout a given room can identify the locations of speakers as well as the language they are speaking, translating it into the listener’s native language. Currently, the product offers translations between Japanese, Korean, Mandarin (both Traditional and Simplified characters can be displayed as well), Burmese, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French.
#4. United States: Bill to Improve Language Access in Mortgage Servicing
Last week, the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services passed a bill that would improve language access in mortgage servicing. If passed into law (H.R. 3009), the Act would require the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to provide a framework and tools for mortgage lenders and bankers to improve language access services for borrowers with limited English proficiency (LEP),
who have often been left behind or disenfranchised by the language barrier.
“It is time to make language accessibility the norm and not the exception,” Rep. Garcia said. However, execution is in fact difficult for currently not all languages are available on the service platform. Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) recommends that the act need to place limits on which languages lenders must make available to borrowers, since the majority of residents with LEP speak a relatively small handful of languages.