Translator Newsletter: Bilingual Brains, Universal Understanding, & More!

gvlogoHappy New Year, GV'ers!

Welcome to our very first translator newsletter of 2016! I hope you all had a fantastic start to this year and are ready to talk about…

English & the Internet

Screenshot taken from http://www.techinsider.io/

Screenshot taken from http://www.techinsider.io/

Is English still the universal language of the Internet? Tech Insider says it is… for now. According to this article, over half of the Internet is currently in English, but that percentage may be declining in the future. What languages do you think will take over in coming years? Read on and share your thoughts!

Making It As a Translator

Screenshot taken from thoughtsontranslation.com

Screenshot taken from thoughtsontranslation.com

As freelance translators, it is often common to have periods of time where projects are flooding through your doors and others when you're struggling to find paying jobs. In her guest post on the Thoughts on Translation blog entitled, “Getting Beyond Feast or Famine“, Dorothee Racette shares methods we can use to plan ahead to avoid these all-or-nothing situations and stabilize our work flow as freelancers.

Advantages of a Bilingual Brain

Screenshot taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Screenshot taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/

We all know by now that speaking more than one language is extremely beneficial. For your viewing pleasure, the BBC has compiled a short video to talk about how great this skill is for our brains, particularly in old age. Take a look and tell us what you think!

Machines, Lost in Translation

Screenshot taken from www.npr.org

Screenshot taken from www.npr.org

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a universal translator? A machine that could translate human languages from one to the other? According to NPR's All Tech Considered, Microsoft is getting incredibly close to doing this. In their post called, “Machines, Lost In Translation: The Dream Of Universal Understanding“, they dive deep into what is known as ” ‘the neural network method’, where machines are trained to emulate the way people think.” It sounds like something from the future, but could it be our reality?

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As always, thank you all for your hard work and dedication to GV! If you have any questions, comments, or ideas, feel free to email me at marianna@globalvoices.org.

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