Bilingual or Bicultural?

Nov 8, 2013 | Blog

More than half of the world’s population today is at least bilingual. However only a small number of these people will become translators and interpreters. Not everyone who speaks several languages can call himself a translator. It is believed that a good translator needs not only to be bilingual, but also bicultural. If speaking two languages would be enough to be a translator, then anyone with a dictionary would be able to translate. It isn’t the case. Translators do not only translate words. They translate meanings, idioms, and phrases that would only make sense in one particular cultural background. To be able to achieve this, translators must be aware of their second language’s culture. But how does one become successfully bicultural? Multicultural people immerse themselves in the life of two or several different cultures. They take part and adapt their behaviours, values, attitudes to these cultures. It is essential for translators to take into account even the tiniest cultural references when translating a text. Failing to do so can sometimes have devastating consequences. It is also good in general to be multicultural. It can double up your social networks, improve your awareness of cultural differences, and help bridge two different countries that have different cultures. It is also said that being multicultural awards you greater creativity and professional success. It is certain that bilingualism is required for translation proficiency and efficiency. A good translator should be bicultural or multicultural and should be given training in their second language’s cultural background. Should you need a translator for a particular cultural text, here at LingoStar we have a range of native-speaking...

UBC – ELI, HELP, Conferences & Accommodations

Sep 8, 2013 | Blog, Projects

We help University of British Columbia departments educate and inform their students and respective families of program services and updates. We provide on-going translation services to three UBC departments: Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP), English Language Institute (ELI) and Conferences & Accommodations, who require yearly updates and revisions to their informational letters and marketing and promotional text into the following languages: French, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Polish, German, Turkish, Arabic, Farsi, Italian, Kazakh, Spanish and Portuguese, Punjabi, Tagalog. We take extra care to place the translation jobs with local linguists familiar with UBC to ensure consistency and target market...

The Health Team

Aug 21, 2013 | Blog, Projects

With our help, The Health Team promotes health and wellness in the workplace.  The Health Team provides workplace health and employee wellness programs to employers in Canada. Founded over 10 years ago, The Health Team’s mission is to promote good health and well-being in the workplace. For example, they offer a flu-shot program where registered nurses go to a particular client’s offices and distribute flu shots to employees. We help them on an ongoing basis with English to Canadian French translation of informational and promotional material so they can better reach a diverse Canadian...

Panoramic Software Inc.

Jul 21, 2013 | Blog, Projects

We helped Panoramic broaden their business horizons. Panoramic Software is a Vancouver-based software developer of games and applications for mobile devices. Their popular Calc-Pro calculator app reached an international audience after we helped them translate it to Korean, Dutch, Russian, German, European Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, European Portuguese, European French, and Japanese. A very challenging subject matter as this app performs highly advanced mathematical functions, so a thorough knowledge of mathematics was necessary to ensure a good quality translation. We were thrilled to hear that the Calc-Pro app reached a number 1 rating in...

Mobidia Technology, Inc.

Jun 21, 2013 | Blog, Projects

With our help, Mobidia expanded their client base internationally. Mobidia Technology Inc. is an award-winning software developer whose app ‘My Data Manager’ analyzes mobile data usage to help both users and mobile operators track and use their data efficiently. We were able to help them expand their sales internationally by translating the App to Czech, Japanese, Korean, European French, European Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. As always when translating software material, it is imperative to rule out any inconsistencies in terminology and confirm the context for many phrases so that when they appear to the target market user, the language has been used...

Kwantlen Polytechnic University

May 8, 2013 | Blog, Projects

We help Kwantlen bring quality and excellence to their international student reach. Kwantlen Polytechnic University, established in 1981 by the government of British Columbia, has evolved from a college to a university, embracing its role as an important resource in preparing graduates to be not just contributing members of society, but global citizens. In keeping with their position as an attractive option for international students, Kwantlen has asked us to translate and update foreign language brochures into the following languages on a yearly basis: Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Arabic, German, Korean, and Punjabi. We are careful to place the translations with translators who live and work in the foreign market to ensure appropriately localized content for their potential students and their...