Jun 30 2009
Most companies will be closed on Thursday, July 2, 2009 until Monday, July 6, 2009
in observance of the Independence Day holiday. Please take into consideration for all translation
and export planning.
Jun 29 2009
Translation Planning: Bastille Day 15th July – France
Most companies will be closed in France 14th and 15th of July for the
Bastille day holidays. Please take into consideration for all translation
and export planning.
Jun 29 2009
On 26 September, schools across Europe will be celebrating the vast number of languages spoken around the world and recognising all the different ways in which learning another language can enhance people’s lives. CILT, the National Centre for Languages is encouraging schools across the UK to join in the festivities for the European Day of Languages.
The European Day of Languages was set up by the Council of Europe in 2001, and now has around 45 countries involved. It’s an opportunity for schools, colleges and the wider community to kick-start language learning, or to introduce some fun into the process by planning activities like singing contests, market days or competitions.
CILT has all sorts of ideas to help teachers and parents along the way. Resources, downloads and general advice can all be found on our EDL pages, along with the Council of Europe events calendar, which schools across the continent are encouraged to use to promote and share their own ideas for activities and events.
This year CILT has produced a new collection of resources aimed specifically at MFL teachers. The ‘Discover a World of Languages’ collection of posters, stickers, and class sets can be used across both primary and secondary and is perfect for getting pupils thinking about different cultures and picking up words that they could use on holiday.
CILT has also recently launched the Language and Film Talent Awards (LAFTAs), which is an ideal way to celebrate the day. 13 to 21 year olds are being encouraged to produce a two-minute film on why languages are important. Last year the competition received 165 entries and the teenagers walked away with some excellent prizes, including trips abroad.
To find out more about the LAFTAs, visit our Languages Work website. The website also has plenty of resources to help teachers do something a little different to celebrate the day, and to show young people how important languages can be when it comes to entering the world of work.
Jun 25 2009
Switzerland:
On 13th March, STAR and two other finalists accepted the innovation prize awarded by the Wirtschafts- und Industrievereinigung Schaffhausen (Schaffhausen association of business and industry). GRIPS was singled out as a concept for the creation, management and publication of information in all languages and media from one single data source.
Josef Zibung accepted the award on behalf of the GRIPS team: “This is a well deserved accolade for the GRIPS team, represented by Stephan Finkler (Development) and Florian von Lepel (Information Engineering). Together with their colleagues they have managed to implement a concept which, thanks to innovation and sustainability, provides STAR customers with a guaranteed advantage over the competition”. The laudatory speech was given by Dr Erhard Meister. He highlighted the importance of innovation, particularly if a company is to be successful on the international stage.
The winning projects qualified from among 27 submitted candidates. The jury judged the submitted projects in terms of uniqueness, marketability and sustainability (environmental and corporate)
Jun 22 2009
Portugal
We’d like to inform you that there is a public holiday on the 24th June -
São João, Saint John The Baptist Day, patron saint for Oporto. Please take
this into consideration for all translation planning.
Jun 19 2009
The latest development of the Annual Schools Census, Schools and Families (DCSF) in England gives us important data about languages spoken in the Uk.
Annual Schools Census :England
The annual School Census carried out by the DCSF collects information form maintained Nursery, Primary, Middle, Secondary and Special Schools, Direct Grant Nurseries, City Technology Colleges, Academies, Non maintained Special Schools and Service Children’s Education establishments in England.
The 2008 data records some 240 different languages for almost 79% of pupils whose first language is other than English.
Languages Data (England)
The top fifteen languages spoken by pupils whose first language is other than English are reported as per the table.
| -Language- | -Number- | – %* - |
| Panjabi | 102,570 | 1.6 |
| Urdu | 85,250 | 1.3 |
| Bengali | 70,320 | 1.1 |
| Guajarati | 40,880 | 0.6 |
| Somali | 32,030 | 0.5 |
| Polish | 26,840 | 0.4 |
| Arabic | 25,800 | 0.4 |
| Portuguese | 16,560 | 0.3 |
| Turkish | 16,460 | 0.3 |
| Tamil | 15,460 | 0.2 |
| French | 15,310 | 0.2 |
| Yoruba | 13,920 | 0.2 |
| Chinese | 13,380 | 0.2 |
| Spanish | 10,000 | 0.2 |
| Persian/Farsi | 8,510 | 0.1 |
*Percentage of total maintained-school pupil population in Engalnd
Other UK regions: Scotland
-There are over 28,000 bilingual primary and secondary school children in Scotland.
-The top five home languages are: Panjabi, Urdu, Polish, Cantonese and Arabic.
-A total of 138 languages are spoken in school children in Scotland.
Other UK regions: Northern Ireland
-There are over 3,809 out of a total of 166,639 primary pupils and 1,714 out of 147,942 post primary pupils whose first language is not English and who have significant difficulties with the English language.
Other UK regions: Wales
-The 16% of pupils from maintained secondary schools in Wales were taught Welsh as a first language.
Future developments
We will welcome the outcome of a research project led by the Institute of Education on Population, Language, Ethnicity and Socio-Economic Aspects of Education.
This will provide us with very useful case studies on the relationship between language, ethnicity and social position.
Jun 19 2009
Wednesday 15 July 2009, Chilworth Manor, Southampton
Fees: £75 (or £25 for complementary school teachers, with travel subsidy).
The annual conference and exhibition for colleagues involved in teaching community languages in the mainstream or complementary sectors, whether teachers, managers, local authority advisers, teacher trainers or policy-makers. All delegates will receive an Our Languages toolkit on forging successful partnership between mainstream and complementary schools and CDs offering lesson plans, schemes of work and resources across a range of languages.
For more details:
www.clit.org.uk/clshow
Jun 19 2009
Friday-Saturday 19-20 June 2009, London Metropolitan University
Fees: £220 (120£ for complementary school teachers).
With the theme of Making Multilingualism Meaningful: linking theory to practice, this conference includes Prof. Jim Cummins, University of Ontario, Canada and Prof. Luis C. Moll, University of Arizona, USA as principal speakers.
For more information:
www.londonmet.ac.uk/depts/doed/centre-for-multilingualism
Jun 19 2009
Various location, May-June 2009
These nine free events feature high-profile speakers, participation from Our Languages project schools, an update on the latest government thinking on community languages, advice on Asset Languages accreditation and guidance on obtaining QTS.
For more informations:
www.ourlanguages.org.uk
Jun 17 2009
This Thursday at IMUG – 2009.6.18, 7 to 9 PM
Internationalizing an iPhone App (or, what do a body waxing studio in Japan, a Honda dealership in Australia and Mountain Mike’s Pizza in Santa Clara have in common?)
Development of MobileAppLoader presented some interesting internationalization and localization challenges. Yet global accessibility was essential to achieve the developer’s vision: that every business should have an iPhone app on the iTunes App Store to connect with customers. This required an application that would allow small businesses anywhere on the planet to create an iPhone application and help them submit it to the store. The question was, “How to get there?”
Nua iPhone.
Launched last month, with 150 customer applications deployed so far and millions more to come, MobileAppLoader is an innovative marketplace where developers can post their application templates and where businesses can buy templates for upload of customized content. The result is customized applications posted on the App Store. MobileAppLoader provides developers an alternative revenue model. Instead of charging subscribers, developers sell their application templates to businesses. For any business this is the most cost-effective way to get customized applications without hiring a dedicated development team or source customized development.
iPhone.
Zvika Ashkenazi has been in the forefront of the mobile industry for the last decade. From launching mobile games in Europe as early as 2001 to bringing mobile e-mail to millions of users at Yahoo!, Zvika’s life mission is to innovate and create. Having generated several patents in the mobile space, he has embarked on a new mission to change how mobile applications are built, traded, and deployed. His professional achievements in the fields of marketing and product management span three continents and involve planning, positioning, and writing specifications for the next generation of products and solutions, based on direct contact with customers and a strong understanding of market trends. Zvika has a M.Sc. degree from Tel-Aviv University in Biomedical Engineering. His Masters thesis was implemented to save lives during car crashes.