ak2 translation -

Tokyo prof strives to rescue an Aboriginal language from oblivion

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:07:55 -0500

"Every language is a cultural asset of humanity," is how Tasaku Tsunoda expressed his motivation for costarting a project in 2002 to teach the extinct Warrongo language to the Aboriginal people of the Warrongo tribe of northeastern Australia.

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Ceremony honors literature translators

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:27:35 -0500

The Korea Literature Translation Institute held an award ceremony for the winners of its annual translation competition at the Press Center in downtown Seoul yesterday.

The top prize for the 9th Korean Literature Translation Contest went to Vincenza D'Urso, who has chosen to translate Hwang Suk-yong's novel "Mugi-ui geuneul" into Italian.

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China overtaking India in English usage: study

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:40:32 -0500

LONDON: India is falling behind China in its attempts to increase the use of English, risking squandering a key economic advantage, a new report
says.

A "huge shortage" of teachers and quality institutions means China may now have more people who speak English than India, says the study by the British Council, Britain's international cultural relations body.

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Be careful not to bend your gender in Japanese

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:59:32 -0500

One of the biggest omissions in Japanese textbooks, classes and one-on-one lessons is gendered language. Ignore it and at some point you will wind up sounding like a little Japanese girl — or a guy — when you didn't intend too.

What exactly is "gendered language"? This refers to how males and females speak differently from one another within a language. It is a feature of other languages (Spanish, for one), but the Japanese version differs as it refers to gender roles and is not "grammatically gendered" — meaning that if you are a boy and speak like a girl, there is nothing grammatically incorrect about it. You would just sound like a girl, and that's no fun.

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Korea Fails to Honor Heroine of Quiet Research

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:56:31 -0500

...After receiving a Ph.D. in history in France, Park began working at the national library in Paris in 1967, where she discovered the dust-covered "Jikji Simche Yojeol." The book, printed by the Buddhist monk Baekun in 1377, is an anthology of the teachings of the Buddha for meditation. At a global symposium of Asia experts in 1972, Park proved that it was printed 78 years earlier than Johannes Gutenberg's 42-Line Bible printed in 1455. Her findings gained international recognition.

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Jikji Simche Yojeol: The world's oldest extant movable metal print book

Smart spectacles aid translation

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:54:50 -0500

Resembling glasses but lacking lenses, the headset uses a tiny projector to display images on a user's retina.

NEC said it planned a version that used real-time translation to provide subtitles for a conversation between people lacking a common language.

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How to lose your temper in Japanese

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:55:34 -0400

Sometimes you just want to wring someone's neck (kubi wo hinetteyaru). Oh, only figuratively, I mean. And having wrung — verbally, that is — you feel like a new man or woman, totally refreshed. This may even clear the air, or, in Japanese, sukatto suru, and be the basis for a passionate makeup.

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The Zen Works of Stonehouse

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:48:46 -0400

Shiwu, the 14th century Chinese hermit monk, created an extraordinary canon of poetry that has rarely been seen in English. Red Pine’s new translation of the poetry insists on referring to the monk by the English name Stonehouse, but that is the only flaw in this otherwise fascinating presentation of deeply profound meditations on life, death and nature.

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NativeTung Poised to Transform Language Translation Industry With Announcement of Revolutionary Product

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:53:28 -0400

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ --NativeTung today announced at the DEMOfall 09 conference, the premier event that showcases the latest cutting-edge technologies, a product that enables websites to quickly and easily establish multi-language content channels that maximize global audience reach and engagement online. NativeTung is pioneering the emerging real-time automated translation (RTAT) segment of the language translation industry. NativeTung's Global Management (GM) solution allows websites such as blogs, corporate sites, and social networks to create, analyze, and grow their international business on the Internet.

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Bhutan: Dzongkha to get simpler?

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 06:15:34 -0400

19 September, 2009 - The 9th Dzongkha Development Commission (DDC) Conference, that ended yesterday, has made a series of recommendations to promote and simplify the national language so that people not only speak it but also find it easier to read and write it.

In total, the 75 experts and members attending the conference made 62 recommendations ranging for simplifying the language, making the curriculum uniform and interesting to future policies and plans.

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Ancient Book of Buddhism Chantings Found

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:23:50 -0400

A Hangeul copy of an ancient Chinese book that contains the notes of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) scholar Kim Si-seup has been discovered.

The book was originally written by a Buddhist master from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and dates back to the 16th century.

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Scholars hail Jesuit's success at world Sanskrit conference

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:49:10 -0400

PUNE, India : Christian and Hindu leaders in India as well as scholars from around the world have praised the performance of a Jesuit priest in convening the recent 14th World Sanskrit Conference.

Father Noel Sheth, a lecturer in Indian religions, served as chief convener of the History of Religion section at the meeting in Kyoto, Japan, the first Catholic priest so honored. The International Association of Sanskrit Studies had invited the University of Kyoto to host the triennial conference this year, held Sept. 1-5.

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New International Version of Bible to be rewritten after row over politically correct language

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:33:25 -0400

A best-selling edition of the Bible is being rewritten after attempts to make it more politically correct ended in ridicule.

Publishers of the New International Version previously tried to make the holy text of Christianity “gender accurate” by changing phrases such as “sons of God” to “children of God” and “brethren” to “brothers and sisters”.

They also described the Virgin Mary as “pregnant” rather than “with child”, and removed mentions of people being “stoned”.

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Sri Lanka: Sinhala translations of Pali Buddhist scriptures presented to the President

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 05:56:44 -0400

Aug 30, Colombo: Ven. Kirama Wimalajothi Thero presented 47 volumes of Sinhala translations of Pali Scriptures to the President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees on August 28th.

Following an ancient tradition of handing over Buddhist scriptures and books to the ruler of the land by the Buddhist clergy, the Venerable Thero handed over the translated volumes to the present day ruler, President Rajapaksa in a ceremony on Friday.

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Finding New Meaning in One of the World’s Oldest Books

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 09:21:16 -0400

Since at least the fifth century, generations of Buddhists have memorized and chanted the Diamond Sutra, a short Mahayana Buddhist scripture. The work, which offers meditations on illusion and perception, was originally written in Sanskrit and first translated into Chinese in 402 A.D. Despite the text’s longevity, Stanford religious studies professor Paul Harrison’s latest research suggests that previous translations may have incorrectly interpreted certain words in a way that affects the entire meaning of the text.

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