One of Japan's largest refrigeration companies has been ridiculed on the internet for its new mascot, an egg with wings with the unfortunate moniker "Fukuppy". The firm, Fukushima Industries Corp, a completely unrelated entity from the nuclear plant devastated in 2011, has since removed the mascot from their website and have said they are now looking into renaming it.
Asia's two premier instant messaging applications, both of which come intertwined with numerous social networking features, have their eyes set on the European market. China's WeChat, with roughly 500 million registered users, 100 million of which are outside of China, has made clear its plans to launch in France by the end of the year.
With GDP growth at 1.2 per cent, the British economy is growing at a rate not seen since 2007, a year before the financial crisis crippled economic output. And UK manufacturing, which accounts for 10 per cent of the UK economy, is at the heart of this surge. Manufacturing in the UK has been growing consistently for the last six months.
Linguists of the world, rejoice, for today is International Translation Day. We encourage you to commemorate this day by celebrating the art of your profession and the beauty of language, and, of course, by continuing the fantastic work that you do.
British online fashion retailer ASOS is having a week to celebrate. Yesterday it was singled out by Tech City chief executive Joanna Shields at the annual Institute of Directors conference for being "an innovative British company with open platforms". Then, this morning, Reuters reported that the retailer had eclipsed fiscal fourth quarter profit expectations, with a 47 per cent increase in overall retail sales.
Language is malleable and meanings of words change all the time. However, it is rare for a word to completely deviate away from its original meaning, as was noticed week. The term 'literally' no longer means 'literally' - literally! The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) included the erroneous use of the term to its lexicon back in September 2011, though it went unnoticed until last week, defining that it can be 'used for emphasis rather than being actually true'.
Not everyone can be an exceptionally talented polyglot, the kind to whom learning a new language comes seemingly overnight. But we can all take the time to learn a couple language facts, that may even come in use later in life. Speaking to a tourist, a foreign dignitary, etc, in their mother tongue makes a lasting impression, even if it's only a handful of words.
Meet Nils Rune Utsi, a hip-hop artist from the northern Norwegian town of Máze. His goal is to preserve the endangered language of Sami through the medium of music. At Today Translations, we are always interested in finding out about endangered languages and the innovative ways that people seek to preserve them.
Worldwide, companies of all sizes are adopting globalisation strategies, reaching out to prospective consumers in far-flung regions. The long-term expansion solution for organisations is website localisation. It attracts a foreign audience, gains their trust and manifests a company's presence. A more short-term solution, however, is to look at getting products posted on some of the many e-commerce sites that exist around the world.
Scottish Gaelic, one of Europe's most ancient languages, is experiencing a digital renaissance. Work has begun on creating a landmark Scottish Gaelic online dictionary, which is expected to contain a staggering 30 million different words. The project, entitled 'Faclair na Gaidhlig' (meaning 'Scottish Gaelic Dictionary') comes on the back of a £2 million investment from the Scottish Government and is expected to take up to 30 years to complete.
