New York Times Profiles Google Translate

Google Translate was featured this week in the Technology section of the New York Times. The article examines the endless possibilities and the impressive manpower and resources that Google and its Translate service has. In particular, Google has some interesting new features in the works, like translating auto-generated captions on Youtube videos, voice-to-voice translations for mobile phones running Google's Android OS, and taking pictures of non-English menus and getting it translated instantly.

All this technology is exciting and interesting, but the article glances over the disadvantages and shortcomings of machine translation. There's no denying the fact that Google Translate is getting better, but the accuracy and reliability of its translations still have a long ways to go. The article also features an interesting compare-and-contrast graphic of translations by Google Translate, human translators and other machine translation tools, but it's curious that Chinese, the most ubiquitous language, and Japanese, the language of the world's second largest economy, isn't used as examples (And let's not forget that English into and from Japanese/Chinese are notorious for generating some amusing translation results).

The article also portrays the industry with human translators on one end of the spectrum and automated machine translation tools on the other. It doesn't mention the new trends emerging in the middle, which (I think at least) is a lot more interesting and intriguing.

For more information check out:
"Google's Toolkit for translators helps feed its machine" on Bits Blog
"Google Chrome Translator vs. Microsoft Bing and Yahoo Babel Fish" on PC World
"Need a translation? Google awaits your call" on LA Times
"Franz Josef Och, Google's translation uber-scientist, talks about Google Translate" on LA Times
"Show and Translate YouTube Captions" on Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO

Tags: google machine translation new technology new york times

Posted 10am, Friday 12th March, 2010 by Jennifer Richardson

Is the Twitter glass half-empty or half-full?

We found an interesting article on TechCrunch this week that grabbed our attention. It said "Only 50% of Twitter messages are in English," and it's based on the research conducted by Semiocast who found that 50% of Twitter messages are in English, with Japanese at 14%, Portuguese at 9%, Malay at 6% and Spanish at 4%. It's great that ONLY half of users are now speaking in English (especially considering that the number was at 75% last year) and that the Twitter phenomenon is truly going global. But it's also hard to ignore that on the flip side, 50% of Twitter messages ARE STILL in English and that this "global" phenomenon is mostly speaking English. The number of non-English Twitter users are growing, and it's both remarkable and encouraging. But the internet has a long way to go to fully and accurately represent non-English language content online, which is something we discussed in greater detail in our Translation Report last year.

myGengo is doing its part to bridge the gap between non-English and English speakers alike with Twitter Translations. And if you happen to follow any of our twitter translation accounts, tell your own followers! The more people we have following these accounts, the more we'll be able to build a community on Twitter, and break down those language barriers!

Happy tweeting!


For more information, check out:
"Half of Twitter Tweets Not in English, Study Finds" on LA Times Blog
"Twitter Migrates into Mulitlingual Markets" on Global Watchtower
"Coming Soon: Twitter in More Languages" on Twitter Blog

Posted 6pm, Thursday 25th February, 2010 by Jennifer Richardson

Freelance web designer contract at myGengo

Application closes Feb 3rd 2010, at 5pm JST

We're looking for a mid-level web designer. You'll be creating new areas of the site that complement the existing design, working on special microsites, emails, iconography and illustration to help people learn about us.

This is a freelance project initially, but it is likely a permanent position will become available.
If you are good, we'll find a solution that suits us all.

Sound like you?
- You have a portfolio of beautiful, simple, effective web design for well-known clients.
- You have experience working in a web agency setting, either in Japan or overseas, for 2+ years.
- You have a good conceptual understanding of HTML - print designers need not apply.
- You have designed large, HTML-driven sites from the ground up.
- You have worked within, understand and appreciate brand guidelines.
- You display attention to detail and consistency.
- You care about usability more than coolness.
- You are fluent in English.
- You are legally able to work in Japan on your current visa.

About us
We're a startup. We want to help the world communicate. Still pretty small as a team, but working hard and passionate about making cool things. We're also expanding, so if you like the idea of being around early on in a company that's going places, this is for you.

Working environment
We work at the brilliant Co-lab in the Ichigaya/Kudanshita area of Tokyo. It's a casual working environment - no suits, no crappy carpet. You MUST be able to work on-site for this position - no remote-workers please.

Use the link below to apply:
http://www.survs.com/survey/HGILSY28WH

Tags: job mygengo web designer

Posted 2pm, Thursday 28th January, 2010 by Jennifer Richardson

Better Late than Never! Announcing myGengo’s brand new website

Regular users of myGengo have probably noticed, but we have a brand new website!

This is Phase 2 of our redesign (for Phase 1, click here) and there's tons more to see, do and be excited about. Here's the rundown:

Translate
We have a brand new order form to make it easier for you to place an order. You can also easily check how much your translation will cost using our 10-second quote. The biggest addition to Translate is Doc Uploads - you can now upload MS Office, Acrobat, Rich Text Format, Plain text files of up to 2Mb and receive your translation without the loss of formatting.

String
String. has been in beta for awhile now, but it has a fancy new website to formally announce it and explain what you can do. Because it's still in beta, please be patient with us : ) we'll try to fix bugs and respond to your feedback messages as soon as we can.

API/Discover/Publish
Our next big release will be the Translate API, which we hope to roll out in the upcoming weeks. With the API, you can order and manage myGengo translations from your website or app instantly with a click of a button. And don't forget about Discover and Publish, which will allow users to read and publish human-translated articles and blogs.

Twitter Translations
We've started translating tweets by Japanese Prime Minister (@hatoyamayukio) into English, along with Paris Hilton (@parishilton) into Japanese and Spanish. We're still taking requests for celebrities you want translated - just send a tweet to @myGengo!

Other Updates
We got some great (and otherwise puzzling) feedback on our recent TechCrunch article, which was also featured in the Washington Post. We were also in CNET Japan, Financial Times and Mycom Journal recently. Be sure to check it out!

Matt and Rob are on a business trip across the sea in sunny California along with our investor/advisor/all-around-awesome guy Dave McClure, talking to potential partners who can grow the business, and to spread the word about myGengo in the San Francisco-Bay Area. We'll give you an update on this soon!

 

Tags: mygengo new releases string twitter

Posted 11pm, Friday 15th January, 2010 by Jennifer Richardson

The Wall Street Journal Lands in Japan

The Wall Street Journal launched its Japanese-language website and newspaper this week, which features translations from the English publication along with original Japanese-language articles. Despite the fact that newspaper readership in Japan has been consistently high for decades, it hasn't been immune from the current recession. The industry hasn't been as severely affected as the U.S., but Japanese newspapers are also experiencing declines in advertising revenue. It will be interesting to see how successful, in terms of revenue and popularity, the American-born financial newspaper will be in Japan.

The Wall Street Journal is also available in Chinese, Portuguese and Spanish

For more information, check out:
"Wall Street Journal launches Japanese website" on AFP
"The Wall Street Journal enters Japan" on WebNewser
"Newspapers here soldiering on" on The Japan Times Online

Tags: japan newspaper wall street journal

Posted 2pm, Thursday 17th December, 2009 by Jennifer Richardson

myGengo 1-year anniversary

This week marks an important milestone for us.
On Friday, December 18th, myGengo will celebrate turning 1 year old!

From humble beginnings in an apartment living-room on the outskirts of Tokyo to our current (still humble) shared-office space in the center of town, myGengo has grown in true start-up fashion. We started as a mere concept and now find ourselves as a viable platform bridging customer translation needs with translators who can pick their own work schedule.

We owe a big part of this accomplishment to you:
Customers - for trusting in us, for your custom, support and suggestions.
Translators - for being dependable & diligent, trusting and enthusiastic about myGengo.
Thank you!

Service improvements
Our drive to improve myGengo's service and offerings has only grown stronger, and we hope you will appreciate some big upgrades coming over the next few weeks. Among other things, we will be launching an enhanced order form later this week with support for MS Office documents (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, PDF), and a re-designed top-page to make our ever-expanding services clearer to use.

Japanese version of our report
The translated Japanese edition of our free Translation Industry Report 2009 is available now:
http://ja.mygengo.com/report/translation-industry-2009

Press
We were recently interviewed in the December 9th issue of the Financial Times: http://bit.ly/mygengoFT
If you simply can't get enough of us, watch out for articles in CNET (Japanese) and MyCom (Japanese) later this week.

While myGengo still has a lot planned for the remaining few weeks in 2009, we are already getting excited for what's to come in 2010.
Whatever and however you may be celebrating this time of year, we wish you all a wonderful holiday season.

Best wishes,

Robert Laing + Matthew Romaine

Posted 5pm, Wednesday 16th December, 2009 by Jennifer Richardson

The World of International Copywriting

For our translators interested in copywriting, we would like to share an article series on international copywriting by our friend and author Lawrence LaFerla, from JAPANTranslation.  Through his blog "Marketing on the Japanese Web", Lawrence shares the valuable insight of an experienced copywriter in the Japanese web market that myGengo translators can add to their skill set.

Although I provide a brief summary for some parts in the series, you owe it to yourself as a translator and writer to click through and engross yourself in Lawrence's knowledge! So, enjoy :)

English-to-Japanese translation for persuasion: Words to the wise (and words of warning!)
As a business or service about to sell products or services in another country, getting sales and marketing material translated is just the beginning.  Adapting the language, which includes cultural and linguistic elements of your target audience, is where the real task lies. This section kicks things off by explaining the importance of going beyond literal translations of copy and to cater specifically to your target audience. It all seems pretty simple and self-explanatory, but first time out you may miss what it really takes to capture the essence of your marketing message in another language.  The process requires more investment of time, research, and even money. The article concludes with sharing 4 common "pitfalls" to avoid, as a single marketing or translation misstep could spell utter disaster.

Dealing with special sensitivities – a real-world international copywriting case study
With the basics on writing international marketing copy and why this is important under your belt, this next article shows how these concepts work their magic in the real world.  As an example, Lawrence shares a case-study - transforming Japanese internet users interested in Swiss private banking and wealth management into viable customers. You'll read about particular difficulties Japanese copywriters faced to create a marketing strategy that would become successful.

Adaptation agencies cf. plain old translation agencies: All about “Advertising sans frontieres”
As was alluded to in an earlier article, translations must often go through additional phases to be most effective in growing a business.  International copywriters in so-called "adaptation agencies" serve one such purpose.  This article shares how a translation agency differs from an "adaptation agency" and how these agencies use their expertise as a "cross-bred with an ad agency + branding consultancy + copywriting firm" to help businesses fine-tune their message for their target audience. The process requires much more than knowledge of the language to write international copy because more than just words and meaning must be translated.

Six steps for preparing a nuanced marketing campaign for a local translation… and getting great results
Although you may have found the right agency to work with on international copywriting and marketing strategy, there are always tips on how best to utilize and foster the relationship. The final part of this series gives 6 key steps to follow (and avoid!) in preparing a successful business venture.

Tags: international copywriting japanese web market

Posted 10am, Monday 7th December, 2009 by Jennifer Richardson

Review of String. on förderland.de

myGengo String. was mentioned on förderland.de, a German-language website about innovative startups, entrepreneurs, and businesses. They gave a very positive review of our new website management service over the weekend, and for those who can't read German, here's an English translation of the article:

"mygengo.com/string - Some time ago we reported on myGengo from Japan, who put together a translation platform, which drives from a community of translators. But those inventive Japanese did not leave a good service just as it is. No, they followed up with a smart idea too. This time, yet again, it is dealing with: Language. And it's about myGengo's service "String." String. makes it possible for authors of complex sites to follow which text have already been translated or not. Of course, this only makes sense on multi-language sites, but the system is easy: if an author makes changes to a relevant text, that part will be colored and viewable to all of the other foreign authors. It will only become unmarked when the relevant part has been worked on. It's smart, isn't it?
Potential: Much like myGengo's original service, this is an absolute hit. Because the founders are working very closely with international clients and have a perfect sense (as only truffel pigs (!) and founders do), it was only a matter of time before they gave birth to this new service. It is still at a very early stage, but the beta phase is running. Watch out Dear Silicon Valley, here are some guys with a lot of drive, energy and a good eye for opportunities.
Keep in mind: Don't settle with what you have accomplished already, keep your eyes open and watch for what your clients STILL might need. Keyword: Vertical Market."

Posted 6pm, Wednesday 2nd December, 2009 by Jennifer Richardson

String. interview with Asiajin

In the past few months, we've made some big announcements and released new services here at myGengo. First it was our 25-page State of the Translation Industry Report, and last month we started celebrity Twitter translations into English, Japanese and Spanish. This time it's String., myGengo's newest translation tool, which is now live! It's an easy and very user-friendly way to manage your multilingual website, and we're very excited to make it available for you to use...and for free!

Just before the release of String., Robert and Matt were interviewed by Asiajin, an English-language blog about Asian startup companies, websites and technology communities. In the interview, Rob and Matt give an overview of how String. operates and how it all came to be. Be sure to check it out.



Remember to stay tuned for even more announcements and updates from myGengo here on our blog!

Posted 6pm, Thursday 26th November, 2009 by Jennifer Richardson

myGengo is looking for a native Japanese-speaking Intern!

myGengo is a new web startup that is shaking up the translation industry. Our vision is to get the whole world talking, by making it easier than ever to publish and read content in any language.

We're growing, and we've got an exciting opportunity in Tokyo for a native Japanese speaker to work with us as an intern to help us get to the next stage.

You are:

• A college student or recent graduate (degree in Journalism, Japanese or anything related to writing)
• Native and Fluent in Japanese (and some English would be a plus)
• Punctual, reliable, confident, positive, proactive and organized
• Excited about a career in the web

You have:

• Great writing skills
• Good computer skills (but you don't need to be a programmer)
• Good teamwork, but you are able to work independently too

You'll do this:

• Write and edit new website and blog content
• Spread the word about myGengo online and in the real world
• Help us review translation tests
• Give amazing customer support

You'll get:

• Expenses paid (up to Y1000/day)
• A foot in the door at a company that's going places
• Something on your CV that will be important
• The opportunity to learn loads - we are interested in helping you too!

You'll learn (and get way more than an internship at a big corporation):

• A sense of achievement as you see myGengo grow
• You'll do much more interesting work (no photocopying!)
• You'll learn a lot more, because you'll be on the front line

Where?

• Tokyo (Ichigaya / Hanzomon)

Commitment

• Minimum 3 weeks, 3 days per week
• If you are available for a longer period, part time, that's great!

If you are interested in this position and want to apply, please click here: http://www.survs.com/survey/F5COL5L9JJ

Tags: intern mygengo news

Posted 4pm, Wednesday 25th November, 2009 by Jennifer Richardson