International social media marketing is a continually growing and effective way for businesses and corporations to develop, expand and target new

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  It is broadly acknowledged that legal translation is one of the most difficult specialist areas within the whole of the

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Films have had many languages designed especially for them. Some have been ignored and been lost in history whereas others are used today by diehard fans and have dictionaries and translators online. Here are some of the more popular that are used amongst fans.

We’ll start with a language that has gone down as one of the most widely used and popularised fictional languages ever. Klingon was first used in Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979 although only 11 short phrases were used.  Marc Okrand and James Doohan (Scotty) created the famed language in the mid-seventies and is centred on the Klingon principles of spacecraft’s and warfare. It has been used on several occasions in other films and on TV shows including The Simpsons, The Big Bang Theory, Paul (2011) and Kill Bill (2003). Klingon is so popular that it has its own dictionary and classic plays such as William Shakespeare’s Hamlet have been performed in the language and even the Bible has been translated in to Klingon.

In 2009, James Cameron released the record breaking Avatar which had its own language called Na’vi. The Na’vi language is spoken by the tribe of the same name who live on the planet Pandora. It was created by Paul Frommer in 2005 who worked on set with the actors to help refine their pronunciation and understanding of the language even though the script contained Na’vi before the cast was assembled. Na’vi hasn’t had any notable uses in other films or TV shows but it is still a growing language that only contains around 1,500 words as of 2011.

Minionese is the fictional language spoken by the Minions in the Despicable Me franchise. It can also be called the Banana Language as a reference to their colour. While it is a new language, it already has more online translators than any other fictional language. While it is an official language with its own dictionary and words, it does borrow some English words in order to help the younger viewers understand what is being said. It even has some phrases that are Spanish – “Para tú” meaning “for you” – and Italian words such as “Gelato” meaning “ice cream” and that’s only naming a few languages. There are also examples of Korean, Filipino and Chinese. It was both made and voiced by the directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud.

Writer George Orwell created Newspeak for his novel “1984” without knowing that one day it would be used in the film adaptation 1984 which was released in 1984! To represent the totalitarian future, Newspeak didn’t contain words for freedom or free because the concept of freedom with literally unthinkable. Newspeak contains no antonyms, so words such as warm and good become unwarm and ungood because it limited the thoughts of the subjects. The word equal is used in Newspeak but only means equal on a physical level rather than social rankings, class and economic wellbeing. And anyone who tries to use “oldspeak” (Normal English from before the totalitarian regime) would be sent to a “joycamp” (forced labour camp). While as a language it sounds simple, Orwell explained in a BBC interview how complicated it was to create and develop so that it wasn’t too complex for a reader and eventually a viewer too.

How could you talk about languages in film and not reference at least one language from Middle Earth? J. R. R. Tolkien was a philologist and so could construct a language at will by merging prehistoric languages to create a new language. He created Elvish as his first language for the series and didn’t stop there. He created different dialects and languages within Elvish as a whole. As a written language, Elvish has 7 scripts although most of them are only used in a certain area or city. Gondolinic Runes are only used in the city of Gondolin and Sarati is only used within the Second Clan. Many of Tolkien’s languages have ties with Latin, Spanish, French, German and English.

Star Wars is another franchise that has developed a reputation for creating an obscene number of languages but a favourite amongst fans is Huttese which is spoken by the Hutts of Evocar. While it has no ties to any current languages, it does share similarities with long dead languages such as Mayan and Nahuatl (spoken by the Aztecs in Mexico). It was created by Ben Burtt and Larry Ward. It is used in 4 of the 6 films and most famously used by Jabba the Hut, although a young Anakin Skywalker uses it to communicate with people on Evocar who don’t use English. It was first seen in Star Wars – later renamed Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (Han shot first) – when used by Jabba the Hut and it astounded audiences in 1977 and it still does to this day. It is rarely used in other media but was referenced in the final series of How I Met Your Mother.

The Harry Potter series also contains many fascinating languages but none are more interesting than Parseltongue. Parseltongue can only be used by certain gifted witches or wizards in order to communicate with snakes. It was first seen in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). Speakers of the language are referred to as Parselmouths and it is commonly a sign of Dark Magic and evil. The final film in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011), explains why Harry has the ability. If you haven’t seen it already I won’t tell you any more in case I spoil it for you. Although Parseltongue was referenced in the books it was written in Standard English to reflect the fact that the character knew what was being said.

Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ novel A Clockwork Orange contains the Nadsat language. It is a Russian influenced English language where the name is derived from the Russian prefix “teen”. It contains some Russian words and phrases, some English slang such as “sod off” and there are some child-like elements to it including “appy polly loggy” which mean apology. Burgess himself created it as, not only was he a novelist, but he was a linguist too.

Disney also provided us with some memorable languages but by far the most popular was Atlantean from the film Atlantis: The Lost Empire. It was based on the language of the ancient Babylonians and is mixed with Biblical Hebrew, Latin, Greek and Chinese. Disney tasked the creation of the language to Marc Okrand – the guy who helped create Klingon – who took 5 years to develop the language. According to Disney mythology it was written down as the film was created and it wasn’t until its release in 2001 that it was written down how it should be using the Atlantean alphabet and phonetically so that it could be spoken outside of the studio too.

The 1997 film The Fifth Element starring Bruce Willis came with the Mondoshawan language, sometimes called the Divine Language. It was created by director Luc Besson and Willis’ co-star Milla Jovovich who had to speak the language on screen. It only contained 400 words and Besson and Jovovich wrote letters to each other and spoke to one another in the Divine Language so that they could practice using the language. It has a total of 78 letters and its native speakers, called shape shifters, can only speak it as they can change their vocal cords instantly in order to create the correct sound.

Well 28 pages of Google and 12 pages of Bing results later and there are no more languages to write about. So there you go, a run-down of all the major notable languages used in films.

Written by Aiden Froud.

Video streaming website Viki has recently launched a new programme to help keep endangered languages from disappearing. By having their users translate the shows they stream, the company hopes to aid language preservation.

The National Geographic Newswatch draws our attention to a recent press release by Viki and the Living Tongues Institute, in which it reveals that subtitles for endangered languages are currently being crowdsourced.

According to the press release, less than 5% of all languages spoken in the world can be found online. 

Moreover, for the other 95% the world wide web can both be a way to revitalise a language or kill it. Video streaming website Viki is going for the revitalisation option by asking its 33 million users to subtitle the videos they watch.

Dr. K. David Harrison, Ph.D., who is the and Director of Research for the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages and assistant Professor of Linguistics at Swarthmore College, states that languages cannot solely rely on technology to prevent extinction. People have to be proud of their languages, he says, and have to be willing to creatively expand its use, for example by the Viki initiative.

The Viki platform has been used by linguists, scholars and the like to create subtitles in endangered languages for quite some time. In fact, the press release on Newswatch reveals that the TV shows on the website have already been subtitled in 20 emerging and 29 endangered languages. This adds up to almost a quarter of all languages featured on the service! Viki CEO and co-founder Razmig Hovaghimian explains that in the last two years, many language preservation organisations have asked the company to add their language to their collection in order for young students to practice and learn the language. And Hovaghimian is happy to assist: “We want to help ensure that these languages are not forgotten or lost, but live on in a tradition that has carried them for generations–through storytelling.”

Want to know more about Viki’s Endangered and Emerling Languages Program? Visit their website.

Even though automatic translation tools can be lifesavers when you’ve lost your way in a foreign country, Ian Henderson believes they are not accurate enough to be used by businesses.

According to Henderson, chairman and CTO of global language service provider Rubric, a lot has happened in the auto-translation industry recently.

In his article on Wired, he mentions a few new developments, such as the new voice translation service Microsoft invented for Skype and Twitter’s new translation tool with which soccer fans from all over the world were able to tweet to one another during the World Cup in Brazil this summer.

He also elaborates on Google’s acquisition of an app called World Lens which enables users to translate signs or menus in foreign languages. Henderson argues that World Lens merely gives an estimation of what a sign or menu says, not what it actually says.

He has tried out the app himself and came to the conclusion that it was what he expected: a great app for tourists that are struggling to get around in a foreign country, but it is definitely not suitable for businesses.

After all, who would want their product to be accompanied by the Spanish-to-English translation “Take to end the following procedure?”

Are Computers Becoming Translators?

Henderson believes Google Translate has caused automatic translation to become a mainstream phenomenon. Moreover, as huge developments are made in the technology in general, many people believe it won’t be long until an automatic translation service is created that can tear down all language barriers.

Henderson disagrees: languages are more than just words, he says, which means translation machines not only have to do mathematical calculations, but should be able to carry out abstract thinking as well. Thus, he says, businesses must think twice before they decide to use automatic translation when entering the global market.

There is a difference between consumers’ expectations of free tools and products they have to pay for, Henderson states. He compares translation technology to Youtube:  this video service started out as a way for people to show their homemade videos to the world, but over the years, the website has seen a transition to more professional videos.

Henderson believes apps such as World Lens are also right in between homemade and professional. It might make choosing a restaurant in a foreign city a little easier, but it won’t be of any use when you are trying to assemble  manufacturing equipment.

Similarily, Google and Bing Translate take the same position in the translation field: according to Henderson, this became very clear during the live demonstration of Skype’s real time translation tool. When Skype’s vice president Gurdeep Pall called one of his managers in Germany to demonstrate the service, their conversation was hindered by delays in the translation, he says. Henderson believes the confusions that occur because of these delays don’t matter in casual conversations, but are harder to overcome in business meetings.

The Positives of Machine Translation

Even though it has its downsides, Henderson thinks machine translation can be of great help to human translators. Many global language service providers use machine translation to create translation memories that can be used by humans to speed up the translation process. This creates a situation which has the best of both worlds: the human translator brings his cultural knowledge to the translation, while the automation technology ensures the task is carried out quickly.

The human translator’s cultural knowledge is exactly what is missing from automatic translation services, Henderson states. A casual graphical theme, for example, can work great the US, but will probably fail to appeal to a German audience, which expects a something a little more formal.

Thus, Henderson concludes, automation technologies might be of great help for consumers that are looking for a quick translation, businesses should look for other options. Marketing strategies differ per audience, and the nuances accompany this cannot be translated by using translation technologies. As long as automatic translation tools cannot spot cultural elements in a text, Henderson says, translation machines won’t be able to translate language completely.

Did you think all people in Sweden speak Swedish? Wrong! Next to their wonderful official national language, there are five minority languages officially recognised in the country.

In an article on The Local, Isabela Vrba tells us that according to the Langauge Council, Sweden is the home of about 200 different languages, making it one of the most multicultural countries on the European continent.

However, she states that only five of these languages hold the status of an official minority language: Finnish, Meänkieli, the Sami languages, Yiddish and Romani.

Here’s some background on each of these languages:

•    Finnish: Finnish, Vrba says, comes from a completely different language family than Swedish. However, as there are 70,000 Sweden Finns living in Sweden, who are mostly located around Stockholm and the Mälaren Valley, the language has been awarded an official status.

•    Maënkieli: this language, that is also called Torne Valley Finish, is closely related to Finnish. According to Vrba, 55,000 Torne Valley Finns living in Sweden and speak the language: 50,000 of them live in the north of the country and 5,000 are based in Stockholm.

•    Sami languages: this language is spoken by the Samis that are mainly located in the northern part of Sweden, Vrba states. The languages are at least 2,000 year old and are spoken by about 20,000-35,000 people.

•    Yiddish: in the 18th century, thousands of Jews relocated to Sweden. Now, Vrba says, this minority mainly lives in the country’s largest cities. Currently, there are about 20,000-25,000 Jews in the country.

•    Romani: in Sweden, there are about 50,000-100,000 Roma. The language consists of different variations, and according to Vrba, the language has been spoken in Sweden since the 16th century.

Vrba states that these five languages were awarded the status of official minority language in 1999, when  parliament entered the framework convention for the protection of national minorities in Europe.

She also explains that languages can only become an official minority language when they are spoken in Sweden for three generations or 100 years and when they are regarded as a language, not a dialect.

Karin Skoglund, who coordinates the national minority issues in Stockholm, states that when a new law came into effect in 2010, the national minorities were given the right to language and culture protection. Moreover, since that time, they were also  given the right to access political matters. She tells Vrba that in Stockholm, for example, there is a Finnish administrative board, giving the Finns more rights to preschool and elderly care. In addition, Vrba says, the law keeps the languages alive by protecting and representing them. Skoglund does admit that strengthening the position of the minority languages has been no easy task, though, which has to do with the fact that the law is too vague about the guidance that should be provided.

According to Christian Mattsson, who works at the Institute for Language and Folklore as a project leader, measures are taken to keep the minority languages from becoming extinct.

Projects concerning the revitalisation of the languages can receive a grant of 3.5 million kronor (509,000 US dollar), for example. In addition to the grant, the Institute is also involved in the creation of Romani and Meänkieli dictionaries.

Vrba states that even though Swedish sign language has also been a minority language candidate, it has not been made a minority language because of European criteria. As Mattsson points out, speakers of the Swedish sign language do not make up a political majority, which is a requirement for an official minority language.

He also states that a language can only become an official language when it is “traditionally” spoken in a country. This means a language such as Arabic, that has only been spoken in Sweden since the 20th century, cannot be awarded this status.

Marketers, SEOs and other stakeholders in online marketing are always looking for new means and ways of boosting their performance. Although new tricks of the trade are always evolving, there is one that I feel is not being exploited enough – using language translation to re-package and promote content.

Recent statistics clearly show that content marketing in all its forms is here to stay, for the short to mid-term anyway.

Research from the Content Marketing Institute shows that an amazing 93% of B2B organizations rely on content marketing for brand building and demand generation. Webdamsolutions.com found that 78% of CMOs think custom-built content such as articles, white papers, blogs, etc. are the future of marketing and 57% of marketers see such content as their top marketing priority for 2014 (Altimeter).

So, with producing and sharing content such a priority for many it is important to make sure this is maximised to its fullest.

As someone that works in localization and who is also responsible for our own marketing efforts, repackaging content through translation has always been an obvious way of achieving maximum ROI.

If I can produce an article, a video, an infographic or a quiz in English to drive traffic or get links, why would I not translate that content into another language and double up on that potential?

Let’s look at a very simple example.

Last year around this time I wrote an article about Ramadan and its impact on business. It was for link building reasons primarily. I had it published in English on one site which got me a link, some social shares, brand exposure and some paying business.

One of our in-house translators then went and translated that same article into French and voila! we had it published on a French language website.

I essentially doubled my marketing ROI – the only thing the French version didn’t deliver on was the paying client, but hey, that was a bonus anyway.

Now anyone can repeat this same process with any type of content – blogs, articles, memes, whitepapers – the whole content marketing shebang.

The Benefits of Repackaging with Translation

Now let’s be clear, you don’t need to have international expansion plans for this to be relevant to you. Naturally if you do have a product or service that could sell globally this is going to make even more sense, but really using translation can benefit anyone and everyone.

So what are some of the main benefits of using translations?

1.    Link building: link building is far from dead and we all know that good quality links from decent websites is going to help with SERPs, SEO and all that good stuff.  If you are posting rubbish then translating rubbish then don’t expect anything other than rubbish in return; but if you are all about quality then this is a simple and powerful way of building up your link portfolio.

2.    SEO: concentrating on your domestic market can be great for local search results, but it you want your website to do well in international search you have to build up your international exposure. By gaining links, traffic, authority, etc. from say France, Brazil, Russia or China you achieve exactly this.  

3.    Keywords: When Google or other search engines see your content in other languages, it helps them understand even more so what you are all about. For example, if you sell belts and Google starts to see your associate content with words like ceinture (French) or gürtel (German), it helps boost your association with that keyword.

4.    New audiences: Perhaps the most exciting benefit of all is that fact that you gain exposure to a brand new audience, whether buying customers or consumers of your content. It is more than well documented how languages such as Spanish, Chinese and Arabic are gaining in terms of their importance online. Through translation you put yourself in front of a whole new audience.

5.    New digital relationships: As well as finding new audiences, you also have the potential to form new relationships with people who can share and boost your content giving you much more exposure. Whether its social media curators, journalists, PRs or other marketers, these are people that have the potential to help you even further.

There are of course other benefits such as brand exposure, creating a global image and increased sales, but the message is clear – there are lots of easily attainable benefits.

Tips on Using Translation for Content Marketing

Once you know how, using translations to complement your marketing efforts is easy peasy. However, if you don’t know your way around language, it’s important you prepare well to avoid disappointment. Here are some factors to consider before you run off and start translating.

1.    Work with professional linguists: please oh please do not use Google translate. It’s fine if you want to understand the gist of something in another language but for good quality content it will only let you down. You need professionals; these can take the form of a translation agency, in-house translators, freelancers or even crowdsourcing. Make sure you work with someone who knows the language(s), how translation works and what they need to do to make it effective for you.

2.    Pay attention to keywords: when adapting content into another language, research what keywords people are using in that language or location, not what you assume they are searching for. For example, if you sell jeans and you decide to target the Spanish speaking world, you would stick with the keyword ‘jeans’ across much of Latin America but in Spain the keyword would be vaqueros. Use this in Latin America and people will think you are selling cowboys. Look at alternatives including slang terms too.

3.    Beware of language differences: following on from the above, it’s important to be aware of differences in a language. Just as the US, UK, Australia and South Africa might all have differences in the English they use, the same applies to languages like Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, French and German. Decide who your audience is and adapt the language accordingly, or similarly, if you have translated an article into Portuguese for a Brazilian website, make sure it’s been translated by a Brazilian not someone from Portugal who may not appreciate the subtle differences.

4.    Look out for cultural differences: not all your content is going to work the whole world over. If your main product is alcohol, then the Middle East and Arabic really isn’t going to give you much ROI. Pay attention to local conditions, the culture and potential banana skins in the form of taboos. Make sure you are targeting and adapting your content to that target market, country, region or audience.

5.    Adapt to the gatekeepers’ needs: as with any form of content marketing that relies on another party to assess and then publish what you have, you need to firstly do some research and find good homes based on factors such as brand, PR, traffic, topicality, etc. Secondly, you need to approach and ‘sell’ your content in a culturally appropriate manner. A German editor for example will be more concerned with the accuracy of your content, the way it’s presented and your professionalism. A Turkish editor on the other hand might be more concerned with who you are – is there a relationship? If not, you need to build one. Understand what these gatekeepers expect and don’t assume everyone does business the same way you do.

Whether you target a specific region or country and therefore one specific language, or take a truly multilingual approach and produce content in a few or many languages, you will soon realise the incredible potential that lies in using translation.

Repackaging content is a very simple way of maximising your investment, repackaging with translation can take it even further.

Move over, Google Translate! Microsoft is planning on launching a Skype translator that not only translates text, but speech as well.  

Scientific researchers from non-English countries often face challenges when they are looking to publish their work; as English is basically the only language used in the scientific field, they often find it hard get the subtleties of their research ac…

Mobile phone company AT&T Mobility’s Spanish and Chinese users now have access to a service that translates their text messages into English with a press of the ‘send’ button!