Translation tech helps firms talk business round the world. 13 November 2014Last updated at 19:13 ET By Daniel Thomas Business reporter A man uses Google's voice translate app on his smartphone during an event at the City of Fashion and Design, Paris English is the language of business, right? Er... not really. If the oft-heard maxim were universally true, the outsourced translation market wouldn't be worth a chunky $37bn (£23bn) or be growing at about 6% a year.
While content in English still dominates the web, "billions of people don't read English at all or well enough to make buying decisions," concludes a survey by Common Sense Advisory, a business research consultancy. In reality, businesses must translate and localise products into a host of different languages, and that requires linguists. And with competition among translation firms fierce, many are turning to technology to steal a march on their rivals. Found in translation Take Thebigword, a Leeds-based firm employing about 12,000 linguists in 73 countries covering 500 languages. Meet the Australian children fluent in Mandarin. 28 October 2013Last updated at 21:05 ET By Jon Donnison BBC News, Melbourne Five-year-old Jackie Baldwin can give her name in Mandarin Australia's politicians often talk about the importance of building ties with Asia. Successive governments have promised to increase the number of schools teaching Asian languages, but in fact the number of children in high school learning Asian languages is falling.
The BBC's Jon Donnison has been to one of the country's few bilingual schools. Sitting cross-legged on the floor of her classroom, chewing on the end of her pen, five-year-old Jackie Baldwin is deep in thought. Blonde haired, with pink spectacles balanced on the tip of her nose, her hand begins to move steadily and confidently across her page, leaving a neat line of Mandarin Chinese characters. Among them I spot the letters "BBC" in the English alphabet. "Today the BBC is visiting our school," Jackie says, helping me out with the translation. Grips with Mandarin Exception to the rule. Toddler brain scan gives language insight. 8 October 2013Last updated at 20:58 ET By Helen Briggs BBC News The left hand side of the brain has more myelin The brain has a critical window for language development between the ages of two and four, brain scans suggest.
Environmental influences have their biggest impact before the age of four, as the brain's wiring develops to process new words, say UK and US scientists. The research in The Journal of Neuroscience suggests disorders causing language delay should be tackled early. It also explains why young children are good at learning two languages. The scientists, based at King's College London, and Brown University, Rhode Island, studied 108 children with normal brain development between the ages of one and six. Continue reading the main story “Start Quote Our work seems to indicate that brain circuits associated with language are more flexible before the age of 4, early intervention for children with delayed language attainment should be initiated before this critical age”
English-Globish-Difference. A New International Business Language: Globish. El Globish. Smack the Pony - The insensitive English teacher. Frieze talks 2011: Do you speak Globish? | Art and design. English is the main language of the art world – and not just in London and New York. Go to an exhibition opening in Berlin, Mexico City or Beijing, and you're sure to hear English spoken with a wide array of foreign accents. Artists, curators, gallerists – whatever their native tongues – no longer even ask if you speak English. Kosovan artist Jakup Ferri's confessional video – An Artist Who Cannot Speak English is No Artist (2003) – suggests artists should study English alongside drawing, sculpture and photography.
The French businessman Jean-Paul Nerrière argues that the art world doesn't speak English so much as Globish (short for Global English). It's how non-native English speakers communicate with each other. To make up for the 600,000-plus words in the Oxford English Dictionary, Globish uses simpler yet longer formulations: "kitchen" becomes "the room where you cook". Globish seems to have filled the art world with a more specialised vocabulary. Teen speaks 20 languages. Lauren on Beyonce - The Catherine Tate Show - BBC comedy. Learning English - 6 Minute English - Learning in the womb. Learning English - 6 Minute English - Texting and walking made illegal. BBC: Smack the Pony-English as a Foreign Langauge.