September 6th, 2010

From the BBC:
Israeli scientists believe they have identified why Arabic is particularly hard to learn to read.

The University of Haifa team say people use both sides of their brain when they begin reading a language – but when learning Arabic this is wasting effort. The detail of Arabic characters means students should use only the left side of their brain because that side is better at distinguishing detail. The findings from the study of 40 people are reported in Neuropsychology. “The particular characteristics of Arabic make it hard for the right hemisphere to be involved” said Professor Zohar Eviatar University of Haifa, Israel.

When someone learns to read Arabic they have to work out which letters are which, and which ones go with which sounds. It is the ability to tell letters apart that seems to work differently in Arabic – because telling the characters apart involves looking at very small details such as the placement of dots.

Professor Zohar Eviatar, who led the research team, said: “The particular characteristics of Arabic make it hard for the right hemisphere to be involved. When you are starting something new, there is a lot of [right hemisphere] involvement.”

Clearer Differences

The researchers looked at 40 university students. Some of the students only spoke Hebrew, while some also spoke and read Arabic well. In order to work out which side of the brain reads letters, the researchers flashed letters for a 10th of a second to one side of a screen or the other. When the eyes see something for just a short time, and it is at one side of a screen, only one brain hemisphere is quick enough to process the image.

The team measured how fast and how accurate the students were when they tried to tell letters apart, first in Hebrew and then in Arabic. All the students could read Hebrew well, and they all used both left and right hemispheres to tell Hebrew letters apart. The same thing has previously been found with letters used in English. Characters in English and Hebrew are easier to tell apart because there are clearer differences between them than there are in Arabic.

Sensitivity

When they looked at the students’ reading of Arabic letters it gave the team a clue about why children find the language difficult to learn to read. The Hebrew-only speakers behaved like children just starting to read most languages – they tried to tell Arabic letters apart, managed to do it slowly but made a lot of mistakes, and used both hemispheres of their brains. The good Arabic readers, however, only used their left hemispheres to tell Arabic letters apart.

The researchers were intrigued by this and investigated further. They wanted to know why the right hemisphere was not working when reading Arabic letters, so they set a right hemisphere challenge. They showed the students pairs of extremely similar Arabic letters – with just “local” differences – and letters that are more different – with “global” differences.

When the Arabic readers saw similar letters with their right hemispheres, they answered randomly – they could not tell them apart at all. “The right hemisphere is more sensitive to the global aspects of what it’s looking at, while the left hemisphere is more sensitive to the local features,” says Professor Eviatar. The team think this may give them some clues about what readers may be doing wrong when they begin to try to read Arabic.

Reading Hope

Both young children and adults call on both hemispheres to help them learn a new task. And using both hemispheres is the right thing to do when reading English or Hebrew – so learning strategies would be fine if they were reading another language.

But previous research has found that the right hemisphere is not that good at distinguishing small details, so readers starting to learn Arabic have to learn to focus on small details, which is not natural to them, but could help them shift to their left hemispheres.

Now the researchers want to compare new and highly expert Arabic readers in the hope of finding out what their brains are doing when they look at letters. Ultimately, they would like to work out how to teach Arabic reading better to children, including helping them to tell letters apart and how to remember which sound goes with which letter.

August 26th, 2010

Reposted From Inside Facebook:

Last month we reported that three languages were leading growth across Facebook: Arabic, Portuguese and Spanish. The field has now narrowed even further, with the growth rate for Spanish falling, Portuguese holding, and Arabic racing ahead.

Most of the other top languages, including Chinese, German and English, have more or less held steady with July’s growth rates with the exception of French and Italian, which fell to a crawl:

The rapid growth in Portuguese and Arabic is just the latest sign of the change taking place on Facebook.

While the growth of languages like English remains highest by absolute numbers, the market has more or less peaked for the moment. Meanwhile, the major European languages are more or less tied to the growth of highly-penetrated countries, like France.

The case is different for emerging languages like Arabic and Portuguese. The latter, of course, is entirely driven by Brazil, whose 191 million native speakers far outweigh the 10 million found in Portugal itself.

Brazil is still dominated by Google’s Orkut, but as we wrote last week, Facebook is growing strongly in the country and appears to have a good chance of becoming a serious contender.

Arabic is a rather different case. Despite its growth, Arabic is still by far the smallest of the top 10 languages. However, there are actually 280 million Arabic speakers in the world, but as with Spanish speakers, they’re widely scattered throughout a large geographical region.

It’s difficult at this point to pick out a strong growth trend for any specific Arabic-speaking country, of which we track over a dozen on Facebook, but the language itself is clearly establishing a foothold that will help bring more speakers from individual countries onto the social network.

There’s one more notable trend to pick out this month: English, which has long claimed a majority of users on Facebook, has now fallen below 50 percent of the total.

As you can see above, the smaller language groups still don’t hold a candle to English, or even Spanish. However, with over 500 million users now on Facebook, each of the top 10 still offers exposure to millions of users.

Brand advertisers may further benefit from reaching out to users of a language like Arabic, whose users are geographically diverse. Meanwhile, there are now eight languages with over 10 million users, which is a good threshold for investment by application developers.

The full Facebook Global Language Report is available through a membership to Inside Facebook Gold, which also includes monthly data on total global audience growth and demographics.

July 17th, 2010

July 15th, 2010

LONDON (SHARECAST) – Information management specialist SDL has purchased automated translation firm Language Weaver.

SDL is paying $42.5m (£28.2m) in cash for the US firm, subject to adjustments for closing working capital and cash positions, with target cash in the business of $4m.

The company said the acquisition will dilute earnings in 2011, due primarily to the amortization of intangibles created through the acquisition, but should be earnings enhancing thereafter.

Language Weaver’s unaudited gross assets at the end of calendar year 2009 were $9.3m. During 2009 Language Weaver’s turnover was $12.2m and it made a pre-tax loss of $1m.

SDL said the acquisition of Language Weaver’s machine translation technology puts the company “firmly in place for ensuring the effective provision of secure multilingual content into the future’s digital age.”

“Within the next 5 years we expect over 30% of all translated content to utilize machine translation in the process of translating one language to another. We regard Language Weaver as the best-in-class machine translation technology available in the world today,” said Mark Lancaster, chairman and chief executive officer of SDL.

July 5th, 2010

This is an album well worth the $9.99 iTunes download price, with 17 tracks and some great remixes.

N.A.S.A., an acronym for North America South America, is a collaborative alternative dance project between Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon that rounded up an amazingly eclectic bunch of underground music stars for the full-length album The Spirit of Apollo. Of the two DJ/producers comprising N.A.S.A., Squeak E. Clean is the better known. Born Sam Spiegel, he initially established himself as an award-winning producer of television commercial soundtracks during the early to mid-2000s. His production “Hello Tomorrow,” a collaboration with Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for an Adidas spot, was awarded the Gold Lion for Best Music at the 2005 Cannes International Advertising Festival and proved so popular that it was released as a commercially available single on iTunes. Around this same time, Squeak E. Clean began producing songs for a variety of recording artists. Most notably, he produced the Grammy-nominated Yeah Yeah Yeahs album Show Your Bones (2006). Moreover, he collaborated from time to time with his brother, acclaimed video and film director Spike Jonze, on projects such as Yeah Right! (2003), a celebrated skateboarding film. Born Zé Gonzales, DJ Zegon is the other member of N.A.S.A. Originally from São Paulo, Brazil, before relocating to Los Angeles, CA, he is best known for his tenure in the Brazilian rap group Planet Hemp, which was active between the years 1993-2001 and released a series of albums on Sony Music. Working together as N.A.S.A., the two DJ/producers rounded up a slew of noted music figures over the course of several years for what would ultimately become their full-length album debut, The Spirit of Apollo. Released in 2009 on Anti-Records, the album featured vocal turns by David Byrne, Seu Jorge, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Tom Waits, Kanye West, George Clinton, M.I.A., Santogold, and many more.

July 3rd, 2010

Innovative companies could see a dramatic reduction in the cost of patenting new inventions, if a controversial European Commission plan is adopted by EU governments. The new rules could pave the way for a single European patent to be issued in one of just three languages – English, French or German.

Background

Moves to develop a Community patent for the EU began in 2003. Progress has been hampered by repeated technical and legal difficulties, although the Swedish Presidency of the EU moved the issue forward at the end of last year.

The cost of filing and protecting patents in Europe is substantially higher than in the US and Japan, and business organisations have consistently complained about the fragmented and inconsistent decisions handed down by European courts.

Companies often have to fight legal actions in several European countries at once, and national courts regularly come to conflicting conclusions on identical cases. The plans for a single patent court will make litigation cheaper and more predictable, diplomatic sources said.

The European Commission has also said it would seek powers from EU member states to conclude an agreement on a unified patent litigation system, which would establish a court with jurisdiction over existing European patents and the future Community patent system.

The Belgian Presidency has said overcoming legal and linguistic problems will be a top priority during its six months at the helm of the European Council.

The move is designed to make translation costs 20 times cheaper and promises to bring to a close a long-running language dispute which has scuppered efforts to streamline Europe’s expensive patent system.

However, the decision to examine and grant patents in the three languages currently used by the European Patent Office (EPO) could cause friction with Spain and Italy who are unhappy with the preferential treatment given to English, French and German.

EU internal market Commissioner Michel Barnier said he had earlier proposed a “five-language solution” but this had been blocked by Spain, which held the rotating EU presidency until the end of June 2010.

Barnier noted that English, French and German are working languages of the EU and the EPO. He said that at present, 48% of patents are field in French or German, with the remainder presented in English.

“I didn’t invent the working languages of the European Community or of the EPO which has been working with three languages for 30 years,” he said.

In an effort to quell disquiet, the EU executive is proposing a special arrangement for member states where German, French and English are not official languages. Inventors from these countries will have the option of filing applications in their own language and having the cost of translation into a working language of the EPO reimbursed.

Barnier said the proposal “strikes the right balance” between pragmatism and linguistic pluralism.

US will still be cheaper than Europe

At present, a patent valid in, for example, just 13 European countries would cost around €20,000. Up to €14,000 of these costs arise from translating documents into multiple languages.

Barnier’s plan would bring the cost of protecting intellectual property in all 27 EU member states down to €6,200, of which 10% would be due to translations. An American patent costs about €1,850.

New machine translation system in the works

As a supplement to the new arrangements, a new automatic machine translation system is currently under development at the EPO.

It will give real-time access to existing patent information free-of-charge. However, these translations will have no legal value and should be used for information purposes only.

The EU already contributes €2 million to this project through its Patent Language Translation Online (PLuTO) programme and intends to expand this.

The translation of a full patent into any EU language would still required in the case of a legal dispute. In such a case, the patent owner would have to pay for the translation into the language of the relevant court. It is estimated that approximately only 1% of all patents are disputed.

Plans for a single EU patent litigation court were tabled last year but a decision on the legality of the proposal is awaited from the European Court of Justice (EurActiv 25/3/09). This, according to officials, could come by the end of the year.

Practical issues remain

Some practical elements of the proposal remain to be worked through in collaboration with the EPO. The major stumbling block is that the Munich-based Organisation is an independent body with 37 members and is not controlled by Brussels.

It cannot impose its will on the EPO and will have to convince the patent organisation to reimburse some translation costs for EU firms.

In cases where the EPO might reimburse the cost of translating a patent into French, English and German, the Brussels wants these funds to come from the fees paid in applications for the proposed EU patent.

However, EU sources said it was not the intention to pay translation costs for non-EU countries which are members of the EPO – such as Switzerland or Turkey.

All eyes on European Council

The major stumbling block will be the European Council where many previous attempts to break the patent impasse have fallen by the wayside due to opposition by member states.

Barnier said he would be willing to amend the text in negotiation with member states but added that he wants to be the last Commissioner to announce that a single EU patent is within reach.

Commissioner Barnier said failing to clear the final hurdles to an EU patent would be unacceptable. He said a strong intellectual property system is vital to Europe’s priorities: creating a knowledge economy, promoting innovation, tackling counterfeiting, completing the single market and cutting red tape for SMEs.

The regulation on translation arrangements for patents would be one of 30 proposals in the Single Market Act which will “re-launch and deepen the internal market”, the Commissioner said.
Positions

Speaking no the margins of the European Business Summit, Belgian Minister for SMEs Sabine Laruelle told EurActiv that making a final breakthrough on an EU patent would be a priority over the next six months.

She said intellectual property is a key element of Europe’s efforts to boost innovation and support small businesses.

Eurochambres, an umbrella group representing chambers of commerce, said it hopes the Commission’s proposal would prove to be the final breakthrough on a crucial issue.

“Heads of state can repeat their determination to create growth and jobs as often as they like, but it is specific measures like the EU patent that will really make a difference for our entrepreneurs and innovators. The vast costs and complexity of patenting in Europe are well-documented, which is why the continued absence of a single EU patent regime remains a significant constraint on businesses and thus on our economic recovery and growth,” said Arnaldo Abruzzini, Eurochambres Secretary General.

He said the idea of a community patent had been floated in the 1960s but language has proven to be a major sticking point.

“It would be naïve to ignore the fact that linguistic differences present obstacles. We feel that this proposal from the Commission presents a sensible compromise that tackles the language issue in a way that will significantly reduce the costs associated in filing a patent. We very much hope will prove to be the final episode of the EU patent saga,” Abruzzini said.

Jonathan Zuck, President of the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT), said the proposal is a “crucial milestone which can revitalize the EU patent dossier”.

“Until now, language discussions have hindered the completion of this long awaited step. Political considerations on linguistic issues should not distract us from realising the full potential of innovation in Europe. Innovative small and medium size enterprises should be able to compete and fully develop their business. It is high time we eliminated unnecessary barriers and make the single patent system a reality once and for all,” he said.

He said he hoped the Belgian Presidency would deliver a deal on a single EU patent system during its six-month tenure.

UEAPME, which represents small businesses, welcomed the proposal which they said will cut costs for SMEs. Secretary General Andrea Benassi called for the swift adoption of the plan by the European Council.

“Today’s proposal by the European Commission is in line with our repeated calls to reduce the number of languages and has the potential to inject new momentum into the Community patent. The system proposed by Commissioner Barnier will dramatically reduce translation costs, which are often more than half of the total expenses when applying for a patent, while ensuring the possibility of submitting patent requests in all the official EU languages. Reduced costs will be particularly beneficial for innovative SMEs, which have been hampered for too long by excessive filing expenses,” said Benassi.

He said more affordable patents will act as a driver for innovation and foster competitiveness in the single market and beyond. This will allow Europe to catch up on R&D and innovation with its international competitors, according to the UEAPME chief.

“The Belgian Presidency of the EU has put innovation at the forefront of its programme. We hope that it will strive to achieve unanimity on today’s proposal and make progress on all the aspects of the Community patent, also based on the breakthrough conclusions adopted under the Swedish Presidency last year. Europe cannot afford any longer a single market in which the same invention is subject to up to 27 different legal systems. The Belgian Presidency has all the elements on the table to put an end to this dysfunctional system. We trust that it will work to do so as of today,” Benassi said.

June 23rd, 2010

Click Here For Nominee List

June 23rd, 2010

Click Here For Article

June 22nd, 2010

iPods are helping UNC Hospitals reduce the time it takes to call an interpreter for patients who don’t speak English. Juan Reyes-Alonso supervises a staff of 25 interpreters at UNC Hospitals who iron out communication difficulties for patients, many of whom speak only Spanish. “It is extremely frustrating that when there is a language barrier you don’t know what you need to be doing. You don’t even know what they’re telling you to do,” Reyes-Alonso said.

A language barrier arose when Efren and Rosa Martinez took their infant daughter Francesca for a recommended newborn exam. Instead, hospital staff thought the child was sick. “When they came in, there was a miscommunication at the reception desk,” Reyes-Alonso said. Once summoned to help the Martinez family, he got lab work completed to check Francesca for jaundice and scheduled a regular exam.

Such confusion can delay possibly critical medical care when interpreters can’t get there quickly. In the past, UNC interpreters used pagers, then digital phones to receive requests. Those devices, though, had limitations within the hospital that often meant delays of 20 minutes or longer. Then, the hospital became among the first in the country to try a special messaging system using an iPod Touch. “The iPod Touch was the device we were looking for,” Reyes-Alonso said.

The handheld device lists requests and tracks responses from several interpreters. It also comes with dictionaries to help interpreters with unfamiliar medical terms. Using the device has made deep cuts to response time, Reyes-Alonso said. “It’s less than 5 minutes, because we had the request in our iPods in a matter of seconds,” he said

June 19th, 2010

From the Los Angeles Times

China’s world-famous Shaolin Temple gained prominence among many Americans with the release of the 1980s martial arts movie of the same name. An updated version of the film, loved by fans for the riveting kung fu stunts of the temple’s legendary fighting monks, is in the works. And in recent weeks, Hollywood’s remake of “The Karate Kid” has topped the box office, wowing audiences with its seemingly magical martial arts techniques.

But while kung fu continues to make a splash on the big screen, members of the Shaolin Buddhist Temple in Sherman Oaks are keen to spread a different message about the Shaolin culture and what their sanctuary has to offer.

“When people come here, it’s not just about martial arts,” said the temple’s master, Italian-born Franco Testini, 43, whose Buddhist name, Shifu Shi Yan Fan, was given to him by the abbot of the Shaolin Temple in China.

“Hollywood has completely exaggerated the martial arts scene,” added Cindy Truong, 32, a temple volunteer and event coordinator. “It’s not all about Chinese people being thrown over chairs. The martial arts you see in the movies, that’s Americanized. It’s a very small part of Shaolin culture.”

Situated on a busy stretch of Ventura Boulevard, the temple opened in 2008 and offers a tranquil escape from the world outside. Instruction focuses on Buddhist philosophy and meditation, the art of ancient Chinese tea ceremonies, a combination of stretching and breathing exercises known as chi gong, tai chi — and, of course, martial arts.

“But we don’t train people to punch and kick,” said Truong. “We train people to become strong internally, and that emanates externally. We try to educate people, that it’s more than just fighting and fancy moves.”

Testini stressed the link between breathing, listening and learning as a key to developing harmony between the mind and body.

Although there are several Shaolin schools in Los Angeles, only the Sherman Oaks shrine is listed on the official website of China’s Shaolin Temple, where it is described as “the first official branch organization in North America.”

What makes the Sherman Oaks temple even more unusual is Testini, its master.

In 2007, Testini became the first Westerner to be accepted into the elite of the 1,500-year-old Shaolin Temple in eastern central China, his supporters said. In an ancient ritual, he received the Buddhist brand marks that symbolize his high status in Shaolin culture, they added.

Articles in Chinese news media and American martial arts magazines publicized the honor bestowed on Testini, whose journey to monkhood began when he was a youngster in his hometown of Brindisi, an Italian port city.

Testini was 7 when he started taking martial arts lessons, he said. At 9, he began to compete. By his teens, he had won numerous competitions. And at age 21, he entered the monastery and eventually took vows to become a monk. His study at home was complemented by numerous trips to China’s Shaolin Temple, to solidify his discipline and faith.

In 1994, Testini arrived in the United States. He didn’t speak English and he was homeless for the first several months, sleeping on the beach or in abandoned cars. He traded martial arts instruction for food and soon developed a following of students and friends, who eventually found him permanent shelter. And in 2008, his students helped him lease a former furniture store that became the Sherman Oaks temple.

For Testini, his good fortune wasn’t the result of luck but of his unwavering conviction that “everything is within reach.”

It’s a message he preaches daily, over tea, to the more than 50 people who have become members of the temple.

“You have to learn to believe in yourself,” said the monk, who still struggles to tackle some English words and grammar.

On a recent morning, about a dozen students gathered in the shrine’s small hall, decorated with Chinese murals and ornate golden figurines, to practice chi gong. Testini drifted among the participants, gently adjusting their positions.

“He can feel your aura and energy, your intensity and anxiety level,” said Truong, as she observed what has become a familiar ritual. “Just by looking at a person’s facial expression, he can see what kind of stress they have inside.”

The breathing exercises and positive thinking Testini teaches help to relieve that stress, said Gene Cantamessa, who attends the temple five days a week.

Cantamessa, who said he is “pushing 70,” is among the temple’s longtime members, whose ages range from 2 to 80. Some are novices to the exercises and meditation; others have years of experience. Several work in the film industry and use the Sherman Oaks shrine to escape from the Hollywood hustle.

“I find the meditation very good,” said Cantamessa, a retired production sound mixer. “I like the experience of concentrating … the peace of mind. I feel like a different person when I’m in here.”

“You find a sense of inner calm,” actor Adrian Paul, 50, said of his frequent attendance at the temple. “It allows you to enter another world, which centers you. Shaolin is what ballet is to dance. It’s the foundation that gives you the ability to do what you want to do, better.”

Rosie DiPrima said she got interested in the temple after observing her children, aged 7 and 10, participate in a martial arts class.

“After a week of watching, I started participating,” said DiPrima, 37, a movie industry chef. “It’s completely changed my life.”

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times