1. Translation and Localization Conference 2016 An introduction to the speaker: Ari Schwartz Born in New York, grew up in London. Studied Politics, Law and then Masters in Translation. Love languages, love the topic of identity. Worked for Amazon, Vistaprint and then freelance. Translate Dutch, German and French into English.

2. Places I’ve lived in the past 5 years Luxembourg Budapest Barcelona

3. Translation in a World of English What does the future hold for us?

4. How many people really speak English? A contradiction between perception and reality.

6. How many people in the world? Answer: 7.125 billion (roughly) 7,125,000,000 - 850,000,000 = 6,275,000,000 Therefore 88% of the world’s population does not speak English.

7. Varying levels of ability

8. English Speakers Depends very much on the industry. Service industry i.e. hotels, restaurants, ticket offices, English ability will be relatively high. Local supermaket, bike-repair shop, tax office, less likely to find English speakers.

9. Hypothetical Proposition What if everyone person on Earth really did speak English, would translation still be required? Yes

10. Reason 1 Technology available right now has allowed us to ‘get the gist’ of what people are saying. I would like three apples and one pear Je voudrais trois pommes et une poire Szeretnék három almát és egy körte Om de kwaliteit van het verkeer te waarborgen, keurt google de sales af waarbij er minder dan 25 minuten zit tussen de kliktijd en de saletijd. To ensure the quality of traffic, Google approves the sales on which there is less than 25 minutes in between the click time and the sale time. Google translate gives the opposite meaning in this case. This technology has impacted translation, but not made it redundant.

11. A common misconception about the role of language/translation The ability to speak a language is a skill. People speak different languages so we need translation so people can understand each other. If everyone spoke English, translation would no longer be required. False!

12. Reason 2 Language is not just a skill. It is an integral part of someone’s identity. If everyone were born with the innate ability/were taught how to repair a car, there would be no car repair shops. That’s true. The knowledge, or lack thereof, of how to repair a car in no way forms a part of someone’s identity.

13. Catalonia The ability to understand a language has little impact on the presence of translation. The Catalan region of Spain. Per la seva seguretat aquesta estació està dotada de càmeres de videovigilància.

14. Wales The Welsh region of the UK. Money is spent on translation even when universal comprehension of the main language is undisputed.

15. Spanish in USA Study into the impact of US Spanish in a locale where the Hispanics mostly speak/understand English.

16. Localisation Localisation is a prominent feature in modern translation, both for big companies and for small, bespoke companies. Creativetranslation.com Creativetranslation.com Vauxhall Nova, Spanish ‘no va’. All our translators, editors, writers, proofreaders […]are based in the country for which your content is intended. It’s the only way to avoid costly and embarrassing language issues and cringeworthy culture clashes. A British film might make frequent reference to ‘Benefit Cheats’, even if you spoke English, you might not be from a culture where this concept exists. Specific localisation requirements which require an individual who has cultural, not just linguistic, understanding i.e. will this advert/image work in this locale?

17. Some Examples Things to change: Measurements pounds, inches etc. Currencies £, $, €. Dates 9.11 or 11/09 Spelling, ‘z’ or ‘s’, ‘o’ or ‘ou’, ‘ll’ or ‘l’, aluminium Actual words sweater/jumper, elevator/lift, wrench/spanner, vacation/holiday. Expressions, from the getgo, big bucks, back country, down-home, cup o’ joe.

18. Personal Experience My work at Vistaprint. Examples: Café Chance || Stop in today and get a free cup of our award winning coffee with purchase of a meal. || At Café Chance, we take your dining seriously. From delicious homemade mac & cheese, to savory grilled t-bone steaks, to perfect mashed potatoes and silky smooth gravy, we can satisfy all of your desires for the best, down-home cooking. Just like Mom made! || 675 555 3487 || www.cafechance.webwww.cafechance.web || Come in today and give our down-home flavor a try! ||

19. Language is Constantly Developing Latin grew into modern day romance languages (Latin didn’t remain unchanged for thousands of years). Development of Norwegian in Norway, Slovak separation from Czech. Even within English - the Grime scene, what does ‘roll deep’ or ‘chirps’ or ‘thirsty’ mean? Variation in uses according to context and field, i.e. DE, decision effectiveness.

20. Who is spending money on translation? Large public institutions like the EU. In 2015 output was 1.9 million pages. Of this, 73% was done in- house (1,459,476 pages) and the rest by contractors (532,156 pages). A page is 1 500 typed characters not including spaces. €330m a year (estimated) — or some €0.60 for every EU citizen. National Governments. April 2010 - March 2011 --- £27,879.63 was spent on translation of written material from English into Welsh. Local Governments and regional assemblies. Spanish senate spends €120,000 on simultaneous interpreters from gallego, catalan and basque. (2011) Why? (los derechos no tienen precio!)

21. Why? Because they recognise the importance of language to specific sections of the population, notably in the case of minorities. Changing attitudes. Different concepts of equality, the French scenario. Now schools in Occitan and Basque etc. Subjugation, Sami people, differences in the status of languages, Catalan. As governments lose power to corporations, people’s national identity is weakening in favour of personal/cultural identity.

22. Who is spending money on translation? Companies, even multi-nationals. Why? Because localising content makes it more appealing and makes people more likely to buy. Vistaprint (image), Amazon (metrics/profit) etc.

23. Conclusion Translation will continue to exist for the following reasons: Pressure by minority populations to preserve their language and increasing willingness on the part of the state to accept these differences – a genuine fear about language extinction. Language can often form the essence, in addition to other factors historical/political, of a person’s identity. Capitalism of consumption is atomising and has made our identities more personal. Therefore less well-spoken languages and personal preferences take precedence over community. The concept of nationality is changing from one massive national community to smaller communities with different cultures sharing a basic, but fundamental, national allegiance.

24. A look into the future Human understanding is linear but actual development is random or cyclical. (Ball rolling, Latin). Roman Empire, many languages, interpreters and translators always required. Latin never imposed on the empire, except in certain spheres (military, law). American imperialism losing grip, other countries rivalling America might break the trend of English expansion (Russia/China). Social consciousness and resistance to large scale multi-national companies is growing as people opt for small-scale, local initiatives Tower of Babel, God will smite us. Lucas van Valckenborch

25. Contact Details Mrschwartz.a@aol.com Proz.com = AriSchwartz Website = fordiszo.weebly.com NL, DE and FR > EN