By Lee Eisenberg Going to work in Monterey Language Services (MLS) is not like going to work at most other places.  This company, located in Marina, California, is like a summer retreat.  Each workday, you drive along Imjin Parkway, which then turns into Imjin Road.  The barren but impressive setting is bound to astonish anyone.  […]

Lee Eisenberg, one of our team members and Russian-to-English translators, shares a wonderful story about how he handles translation between two different cultures using the definition of “real estate” as an example, and how subject knowledge is important for a translator. The picture of him was taken in St. Petersburg, Russia, standing on the frozen […]

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations is officially translated by the French as the Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme.  If we translate this word for word back into English it is The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man.  Just men?  Are our French friends stuck in some male-chauvinist […]

There is nothing more frustrating for the linguistically-challenged than watching a film without subtitles.  At the same time, there is really nothing quite like hearing actors speak their parts in one’s native language. But one organization has come up a creative solution. Mozilla is sponsoring a new program, Universal Subtitles, which makes it easy for […]

An article today in the New York Times talks about efforts by the Shanghai Commission for Management of Language Use to combat the rise of “Chinglish,” a mangled version of English used by Chinese, which has resulted in some hilarious mistranslations–quite an embarrassment for this cosmopolitan city which is hosting Expo 2010. Funny? Maybe. But […]

This picture posted by one of our fans on Facebook caught our eye. The Chinese characters were displayed vertically, the way they traditionally are in Chinese. Is this a big deal? Indeed. Our Director of Translation, Mei-Ling Chen, once made a presentation on how to handle a translation project from English to Chinese involving marketing […]

Did you know that Norwegian has a smaller vocabulary compared to English, but is richer in words describing nature and weather?  A member of our staff turned on the radio  and this interesting discussion came right up on National Public Radio. http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-04-28/readers-review-out-stealing-horses-petterson Jeffry Frank, co-author of a translation of “The Stories of Hans Christian Andersen” […]

The expression ‘lost in translation’ refers to puns or cultural references that lose their significance during translation from one language to another. The expression has been used as a title in articles, literature, television, music and movies. Our Director of Translation, Mei-Ling Chen’s article “Lost in Translation” in the ATA Chronicle illustrates how the design […]

Translation is not an easy task. It requires knowledge, experience, and cultural awareness. Machines can greatly assist humans in the process of translation, but they are still far from being able to autonomously provide accurate translations that reflect cultural differences and take into account the context of a discourse. This underscores the need to ensure […]

April is National Poetry Month.  At Monterey Language Services, our professional team has edited the English translation of an all time favorite Chinese poem.  See our version of translation below. Drinking Alone under the Moon Amongst the flowers I am alone with my pot of wine drinking by myself; then lifting my cup, I asked […]