Source: Peter Facey

Translators, writers and scholars have until the 15^th of June to submit proposals and papers for the 13^th Translation Conference which will be taking place at the University of Portsmouth.  The theme for this year’s conference is “Translation and Crime”.

The 2013 conference, set to take place on the 9^th of November, will focus on translation as it relates to crime: within the justice system, fiction and forensic linguistics amongst other areas.

Two plenary speakers have been confirmed:

Dr Karen Seago is the Director of Translating Popular Culture MA at the University of London. According to the university website Dr Seago holds an MA in English and German, as well as a PGCTS in German.  Seago teaches translation theory and sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Specialised Translation.

Yvonne Folwer has extensive experience in training legal interpreters, police officers and magistrates. She is currently pursuing a PhD at Aston University which focuses on interpreted and non-interpreted Prison Video Link communication.

Call for Papers

The aim of the conference is to bring together the concepts of crime and translation together during a day-long interdisciplinary event. The University is inviting proposals for 20-minute papers and sixty minute workshops. Topics can include:

• Professional translations, crime and the law
• ‘True crime’ translation
• Translation as a crime
• Translation and forensic linguistics
• The challenges of translating crime fiction
• Subtitling and dubbing thrillers

Anyone involved in legal translation services or crime writing stands to benefit.

The Sky’s Not the Limit

Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield, concluded his five month stay in space with style – he filmed a music video of himself covering David Bowie’s hit “Space Oddity”. The 53-year old astronaut can be seen floating in zero gravity on the International Space Station, strumming on his acoustic guitar while he sings. The lyrics are, of course, suited to the occasion.

This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I’m stepping through the door
And I’m floating
In a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do

Though I’m past
One hundred thousand miles
I’m feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go

The Tech Specs

With their cutting-edge technology and AV installations, communicating with us earthlings is a relatively easy feat. Hadfield tweeted frequently during his stay on the ISS, commenting on his daily activities and providing some spectacular photographs that capture earth in all its glory from 370 km away.

Whilst the vocals and guitar for the music video were recorded in space, the song was produced and set to a piano arrangement back here on earth. As mentioned, the video features Hadfield in all his musical glory, but also provided people with various shots showcasing the views from the station.

This is not Hadfield’s first foray into music, however. In the beginning of May, he led a singalong with thousands of school children across Canada, to a song commissioned especially for the occasion. He co-wrote the piece, entitled “Is Somebody Singing?” with Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies.

Bowing Out In Style

This was conceivably Hadfield’s last trip to space, since the Canadian government has cut back funding for the Canadian Space Agency. However, he did make a national record, as the first Canadian astronaut to be in charge of the International Space Station. Hadfield, along with two of his fellow astronauts, is set to depart today, and land (hopefully!) in Kazakhstan.

If the astronaut thing doesn’t work out, Hadfield has a sterling career as a musician, AV consultant or professional Tweeter ahead of him.

Stock market players could be turning to Google suggest for financial insight in the near future. A recent study conducted by U.S. and UK academics has suggested that there is a connection between the direction of stock market trends and search data.

Can Google Predict Stock Market Trends?

The analysis by researchers from the Universities of Warwick and Boston is the newest attempt to pinpoint online behaviour patterns for the purpose of chartering movements in financial markets. The published results have shown that during the period of the study, Google Trends data was effectively used to gain insight into the current state of the economy. An example given from the findings was the increase of search terms such as “stocks,” “economics” and “portfolios” by individuals during times of global economic stress. The conclusion drawn from the changes in search frequency for the collection of financial terms used (98 in total), is that they could be used as early signals of upcoming stock market trends.

Data Mining a New Form of “Herding Behaviour”

Since traders have always been influenced by the collective thinking of their peers, Tobias Preis, who led the research team, has commented on the phenomenon calling it “herding behaviour.” According to Preis, the chaos of the stock market is mainly influenced by people who buy or sell their stocks based on the decisions of others – rather than their own motivation. He is of the opinion that Internet search queries is a new way for traders to see what is going through other financier’s minds.

Forex Unmoved by Google Theory

Forex traders seem unmoved by this latest stock market trend. The metatrader 4 download, which has proved popular amongst forex newcomers, might be one of the better avenues for financiers who prefer strategy over theory. Forex account holders would agree that this trading instrument is far more rewarding for individuals with a higher risk tolerance.

G20 Meeting Calms Fears

After predictions that the deliberate devaluing of the Japanese and Chinese currencies by their leaders would lead to a domino effect across the global market, mentions of an upcoming currency war appear to have ceased.

In February, both Asian nations faced criticism from Western leaders, accused of pushing up the values of other currencies and harming their export market. However, at a recent meeting of the G20 nations, countries kept their currency criticisms to themselves.

Fickle Financials

At least your forex broker can breathe a sigh of relief – it appears that the financial market is not about to implode anytime soon. The Chinese yuan, however, is at a 20-year low to the US dollar, whilst the Japanese yen has dropped below the 100 yen to the dollar mark.

The US did manage to slip in a few thinly-veiled comments regarding their Asian neighbours: Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced that “One key to this effort is a strong commitment by many countries, especially in emerging Asia, to adhere firmly to the G20′s exchange rate commitments – namely, to move more rapidly toward market-determined exchange rate systems and exchange rate flexibility to reflect underlying fundamentals, avoid persistent exchange rate misalignments and refrain from competitive devaluation of currencies”.

In Other News

The European Central Bank, meanwhile, is set to announce its new interest rates today – economists estimate that the ECB will cut its rates by 25 basis points, bringing the benchmark rate down to a low of 0.5%. The decision will be announced at 1.45pm in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Forex traders will be paying close attention to developments in the financial world – with a sophisticated platform such as the Metatrader 4 download, up-to-date news, and some skill savvy, playing the markets can be incredibly rewarding.

Search Engine Giant Adds 66th Language

Google’s famous translation service has just added its 66th language – Khmer, the official language of Cambodia. There are around 16 million speakers of the language, but Google had great difficulty in adding Khmer since there are not a lot of web resources available, and the language doesn’t usually use spaces to separate the words.

Google Translate currently supports languages such as Afrikaans, Basque, Icelandic and Lao, which was the 65th language to be added last year in September. Whilst the translate tool can be incredibly useful, it is best to rely on professional translators for business or legal documents, in order to avoid embarrassing gaffes that sometimes occur when translations are left to algorithms and machines.

Humans versus Machines

Indeed, the offices at Google Translate do not contain native speakers of the languages that are featured. Instead, the algorithms examine language patterns already present in existing documents and books. Thus, the more literature available for a particular language, the more accurate the online translation is likely to be.

With over a billion translations per day, Google Translate is certainly proving to be effective. However, they are not alone in the world of online translation – Microsoft’s Bing and WorldLingo are both popular and accurate competitors.

Easily accessible via mobile phones and tablets, online services can be useful in an emergency, for example medical translation or other travel related dilemmas. However, for high quality translations and literature, human speakers who are knowledgeable in the idioms and linguistic subtleties of a language are invaluable.

BRICS Ditch the Euro

The BRICS nations, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, have been unloading their foreign exchange holdings of the Euro over the past two years. In 2012, the combined group of countries dropped almost $46.5 billion worth of the European currency. As a result, the status of the Euro as a world reserve currency has been greatly reduced.

For those with a CFD broker, who enjoy forex trading and playing the stock market, it would be wise to keep an eye on the fluctuating financial markets. Currently, the euro accounts for 24% of the allocated reserves held by 109 of the IMF members designated as developing economies. This is the lowest percentage since the euro was introduced in 2002.

A senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Edwin Truman, announced that as a result, “The effects of the euro crisis will linger, growth will be slow, interest rates will remain low, and the general attractiveness of euro assets low”.

Egypt Sells Foreign Exchange for Food

Meanwhile, embattled nation Egypt has just sold $600 million to banks in a foreign exchange auction, in order to purchase basic food items such as wheat, corn, tea, cooking oil and meat. The country has been rationing foreign exchange dollars, and the currency has lost one tenth of its value as a result. Furthermore, food price inflation has remained a constant source of tension amongst the populace.

In an effort to combat their financial difficulties, Egypt has reduced its amount of international imports. Indeed, they were previously the world’s biggest importer of wheat, but are aiming to maximise local production instead. The country is also currently in the midst of negotiations with the IMF for a $4.8 billion loan.

Whatever the disruptions in the economic world, good forex trading platforms will monitor all changes, helping you to make the best decisions when dealing with foreign exchange.

Joey Barton has escaped punishment for his controversial Twitter tirade. The soccer player, who infamously directed a series of offensive tweets at Paris Saint-Germain defender Thiago Silva, has been let off the hook due to a translation issue.

Lenient Ruling for  Soccer’s Most Outspoken Player

Barton attended the CNE hearing yesterday after receiving backlash from Silva and a gay Paris football league for the inappropriate posts. The lenient ruling, which has raised a number of eyebrows amongst the French, has accrued a lot of interest for being the first time France’s FFF has looked into insults made on a social network.

French Unable to Translate Barton’s Foul Tweets

Highlighting the importance of legal translation services for these types of cases, the Joey Barton Twitter court case has prompted CNE to clarify the outcome. The uncertainty over the translation of his remarks led to the French Federation’s ruling, stating that they could not pass judgement until Barton’s Tweets were properly qualified. Laurent Davenas, the president of the National Ethics Commission (CNE), explained the decision saying: “If it had been in French, we wouldn’t have needed to reach an agreement.”

Twitter a Public Communication Space?

Aside from the need for proper professional translations, which could’ve led to Joey Barton’s suspension had they clarified his Twitter statements; the case has raised other legal issues. Davenas brought these to the fore when he asked: “Is Twitter a space for public communication?”

Ready to move on from his latest Twitter scandal, Joey Barton’s tweets indicate that the soccer player has turned his attention to the status of his position in Marseille next season. According to the French club, no deals are currently in place.

Over 8000 Artefacts and Counting

It’s time to don your Dickies redhawk action trousers – archaeologists working at the Bloomberg Place excavation site in London have unearthed more than 8000 historical items, including writing tablets, footwear, leather upholstery, pottery, charms, amulets and clothing. Indeed, the site has been dubbed “the Pompeii of the north”, and provides invaluable insight into the Roman occupation of London, which took place from AD 43 to AD 410.

Digging for Treasure

The excavation site is owned by the Bloomberg publishing group, and is the intended location of their future European headquarters. Archaeologists working on the dig expect the final number of artefacts to reach 10000. The items would have ended up in the ground after being thrown into refuse pits, or into the river as offerings. Since the ground remained water-logged over the years, no oxygen could get through to ruin the wood, leather, horn and textile items.

Blast from the Past

Historians are about to get a much clearer picture as to the way of life in the first four hundred years of Roman London. The large quantity of industrial waste items, such as leather and metal off-cuts, gives an indication of the sheer scale of commerce in the city at the time. Evidence of a large water-powered mill supports this assertion.

In all of Roman literature, there are only 14 references to the city of London. This is set to change with the discovery of 150 writing fragments, which preliminary studies have shown contain written information regarding people who lived in the area at the time. Over 250 pairs of shoes were also uncovered – among them, cork-soled slippers used to walk on the heated Roman stone floors.

The archaeologists will continue to toil in their work boots – around 3500 tonnes of soil have already been sorted by hand. However, Sophie Jackson, from the Museum of London Archaeology, is incredibly enthusiastic. “The waterlogged conditions left by the Walbrook stream have given us layer upon layer of Roman timber buildings, fences and yards, all beautifully preserved and containing amazing personal items, clothes and even documents – all of which will transform our understanding of the people of Roman London.”

Source: Chensiyuan

The Government of Singapore wants companies from across the globe to view it as the ‘go to’ destination for the registration and management of Intellectual Property (IP), as well as for IP dispute resolutions.

According to the Singapore Ministry of Law there has been a worldwide rise in patent and trademark filings, particularly in Asia. As such the Singapore Government identified IP as a new growth opportunity for the country, and convened the IP Steering Committee in May 2012.  After consulting over 200 IP professionals from more than a 100 organizations, said committee submitted its Master Plan in March 2013; the plan has since been accepted by government and will now be enacted.

The Master Plan

The ten year plan identified three strategic outcomes and two supporting enablers needed to achieve them, if Singapore is to become an international IP hub.

The Proposed Strategic Outcomes

The outcomes include becoming a hub for IP transactions and management; with the idea that companies will start using the country as a base from which to manage and conduct their IP.

Another outcome would be to get companies to register their IP in Singapore; using the country’s IP services and infrastructure.

If successful, the third outcome will see any international law firm specialising in IP take their disputes to Singapore for ‘expeditious and effective resolution through litigation or alternative dispute resolution’.

Two Enablers

In order to achieve the strategic outcomes outlined the Singapore Government aims to network skilled manpower resources in the region;  creating a number of intellectual property jobs in order to serve the international needs of companies.  Secondly it aims to create an environment conducive to IP activities. The intention is also to offer world class intellectual property protection.

Initiatives to Be Launched

According to the press release issued by the Ministry of Law various initiatives will be launched to make the outcomes a reality. These include an IP financing scheme which will partially underwrite the value of patents used as collateral, should a default occur.

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) will encourage listed companies to disclose their IP rights as revealing these can provide investors with better insights into a company’s potential.

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) will also invest $50m to enhance patent search and examination capabilities, specifically in areas of technology that are of strategic importance to the country.

The press release lists a number of other steps that have been outlined as well as providing access to the complete IP Hub Master Plan.

Price Wars Heat Up

The intense competition between major cloud services providers is reaching new heights, or, in this instance, new lows. Last Thursday, Google dropped the prices for its Compute Engine virtual machines by 4%. Less than 12 hours later, Amazon announced a 26% reduction in price for its Windows virtual machines.

Amazon Web Services appear to the leader in the cloud computing industry. However, hot on their heels are other major cloud technology providers such as Rackspace, Microsoft Azure and the aforementioned Google Compute Engine. In the past 14 months alone, there have been 29 price reductions in total between the big 4.

Implications for the Future

A principle analyst at a research firm stated that “Companies like Amazon and Google will have the advantage due to economies of scale. If history is any indication, Amazon will go to any level to undercut the competitor pricing. Service providers who don’t have the economies of scale will try to add additional value on top of infrastructure to avoid going down this slippery slope”.

Sunny Skies for Consumers?

Of course, low prices are beneficial for the consumer as companies fall over each other trying to reach rock bottom. The rise of cloud computing is also beneficial for fellow IT equipment manufacturers – China’s Huawei Technologies expects a 10% rise in sales, a direct result of cloud computing and smart phone popularity.

Although the big four cloud technology companies are sitting pretty, they shouldn’t get too comfortable just yet. There are plenty of innovative, up and coming IT groups making their way to the top.

The rest of us will be sitting at our virtual desktop, watching it all happen.