The Translation Company

Digital Comic Books Strike Translation Deal

Posted on: 09/24/2012 by Amanda Jennings

While paper editions of comic books tend to be more popular if they are old and wrapped in their original plastic, comic books in a digital format are circulating among today’s youth. While you might not see kids on the bus catching up with Betty and Veronica or rapidly turning the pages to the latest Spiderman story, they might actually be doing so on their phones or tablets. Marvel and Archie are two major distributors of digital comic books, and they have both signed a deal with a worldwide translation service iVerse to make sure their international sales are secure. More than 50% of all digital comic book sales are from international readers, so translated editions are necessary to boost sales and remain popular around the world. The project has been in development for approximately two years, and iVerse uses a specially designed method to make sure the translation is accurate and understandable. The words will go through two machine translations first, and then a final translation by a native speaker to make it more idiomatic.

Marvel to Go Global Immediately

With the release of multiple Marvel movies starring classic comic book stars, there is a high demand for translated Marvel comics around the world. People who had never even heard of Iron Man or Wolverine before the recent releases on the big screen want to learn more and start from the beginning. For that reason, iVerse will be translating the Marvel comics into every language to reach the global audience. iVerse’s professional translation is part of a multi-year deal with the company .

Archie is Starting Small

Though Archie has been sold digitally for quite some time, it is not as popular as Marvel internationally. However, the owners are hoping that the translations will change that and spark worldwide interest. Because that interest is not guaranteed yet, Archie will only be offering Indian, Japanese and Chinese translations to begin with, and rolling out other options gradually.

Once the translations through iVerse become available, the two comic book companies will be offering the digital copies on a myriad of different platforms. Amazon books, iBooks and different apps will sell the translated versions so that people can access them from anywhere in the world. Archie already offered a Spanish translation for its digital comics, but this was only available through iVerse’s store. Now, each translation will be more readily available.

D.C. Makes Language Translation a Priority

Posted on: 09/05/2012 by Amanda Jennings

In 2004, a law required government agencies in Washington D.C. to work on the translation of important documents and services into several languages. Unfortunately, though the law technically made it a priority, it was not considered one until now. After a report showed that 58% of non-English speakers in the region had trouble understanding D.C. agency documents, they decided to finally make professional translation for all the information they offer a priority. This is good news, because 74% of those speakers said that there were no interpretation services available to them when they needed help, and 50% of the documents they needed to read, understand, and fill out were not in their language. For a state with so many foreign residents and with such high expectations for setting a standard for national government policies, many believe that eight years after the creation of a law is a little late for taking care of it. Then again, others feel it is better late than never.

One Government, 10 Different Languages

As of now, the people living in D.C. are from 25 different countries and speak 10 different languages. While there do seem to be plenty of documents with a Spanish translation, their study found that it was primarily Vietnamese and Mandarin speakers who had the most trouble finding information in their language or translators who could interpret for them. The D.C. Office of Human Rights plans to combat this, by making more information available in more languages and by informing their residents of this change through a public service campaign. For those who speak Amharic, Chinese, French, Korean, Spanish, or Vietnamese, all they have to do is request translation services, and their language needs will be met by any D.C. government agency.

“I Speak” Cards Help Give Foreigners a Voice

If a person does not speak English at all, even asking for an interpreter for the language they do speak could be difficult. This is why the Office of Human Rights created their “I Speak” card. Basically, the card gives foreigners the numbers, information, and even English words they’ll need to request an interpreter. They are hoping this card will encourage non-English speaking residents to come forward for the services they need and to feel more welcome in the community. Hopefully, this change will also give the government more information about who’s living in their city and the kind of services they require. In the meantime, at least this translation policy is finally seeing some action, so that a conversation can get started.