Millions Watch Twin Baby Boys Babble: Are They Truly Talking?

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Original Post: http://healthland.time.com/2011/04/07/millions-watch-twin-baby-boys-babble-are-they-truly-talking/#ixzz1IxKmtV6r

One of my favorite children’s books, Before You Were Born, recounts the legend of the angel Lailah, whom rabbinic lore has accompanying babies in utero, sharing the history of their souls. When they’re born, Lailah touches them gently above their lip, leaving an indentation and causing them to instantly forget all the wisdom she’s imparted. Ostensibly the ability to speak goes out the window as well, leaving a babe to slowly piece together the nuances of language over many years. Apparently, the twin brothers who’ve become YouTube darlings didn’t get the memo.
Millions of people have watched the baby boys, clothed only in diapers and socks, appear to have a full-fledged conversation in their kitchen relying on just one syllable repeated over and over. “Da” becomes a question, an exclamation, a statement. There is cadence and inflection and intuitive understanding of the need to take turns, with one listening while the other babbles. With the accompanying hand gestures — and even the occasional kung-fu-like kick — it feels hard to deny these guys are having a real convo in their own private language. (More on Time.com: Study: Why Language Has More to Do with Math than You Think)
Babies should be babbling by 10 months and using identifiable words by 14 months, on their road to slapping full sentences together. The twins in the video are using what’s known as “reduplicated babbling,” in which they repeat a sound, according to Hope Dickinson, coordinator of Speech-Language Pathology Services at Children’s Hospital Boston at Waltham, who spoke with Thrive, the pediatric health blog of Children’s Hospital Boston:

It’s fun because these two are demonstrating great mimicking of multiple aspects of conversation. It really demonstrates how very young children communicate and know how a conversation works, even before they have the words to use. They will eventually begin to replace the babbling strings with words. If you listen closely, you’ll even hear a couple of words: One says “mama” when looking at the camera, and one or both say “up” more than once when picking up a foot.
One thing they are using wonderfully is turn taking, as in first one “talks” and then pauses and the other responds. They are also imitating the various intonations we use in conversation and speaking. There is fantastic rise and fall to their pitch and tones. Sentences or exclamations end loudly and emphatically, and there is also some questioning (rising) intonation. They are using gestures to supplement their talking, much like adults do. Their body distance is even very appropriate for most Americans; not too close, but not too far either.

Are twins more likely to understand each other as babies? It may seem that way, but it’s probably not true. “Some people believe twins have the ability to generate their own detailed language, a twin language, but it doesn’t seem to be true in terms of a fully developed language system,” Stephen Camarata, professor of hearing and speech sciences at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, told The New York Times.
“They are going back and forth and enjoying each other’s company, but they aren’t saying anything specific like, Hey, Mom’s videotaping us. Look at her hair.” (More on Time.com: When Parents Favor One Kid Over the Other, Is It Okay to Admit It?)
For April Fool’s Day, Ellen DeGeneres took the liberty of translating the boys’ conversation as they cooked up a trick to play on their parents:

Let’s hide in the hamper…and surprise Mom!
We did that last year.
I know! Let’s tell Dad that Mom’s pregnant again.
Don’t give them any ideas.

The twins’ video has been posted in countless places, but at Twin Mama Rama, where their mother maintains a blog, one viewer had some good advice: “When your boys get older, you should make them sit and watch it whenever they get into an argument.”
Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/04/07/millions-watch-twin-baby-boys-babble-are-they-truly-talking/#ixzz1IxLKlgjO

New hack lets Xbox Kinect read sign language

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Originally Published at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42419609/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

By Charles Q. Choi

TechNewsDaily

updated 4/4/2011 3:40:43 PM ET 2011-04-04T19:40:43

Soon, you may not necessarily need to be fluent in American Sign Language (ASL) in order to interpret it. Scientists have hacked Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect motion control sensor to read ASL.
The real-world feat is reminiscent of Google’s April Fools’ Day prank this year, in which the company falsely debuted a featured called Gmail Motion that allowed users to translate bodily gestures into words and email commands.
The Kinect, which debuted in November, offered a revolutionary way to interact with computers without pushing any buttons or holding any device whatsoever, using only body motions to control Microsoft’s Xbox game console. The add-on, which is essentially a motion-sensing webcam, uses an infrared scanner to create 3-D models of people as they move, allowing users to play games by swimming their arms, shimmying their bodies or performing other so-called natural interactions. The Kinect has proven very popular, with 8 million sensors sold worldwide within 60 days of its launch.
The Kinect drew the attention not just of gamers but of programmers as well, with a thriving community of hackers now testing the limits of what the sensor can be used for, such as helping mobile robots respond to gestural commands.
Now researchers at Georgia Tech are pairing up the Kinect device with custom software that can interpret a very limited American Sign Language vocabulary with greater than 98 percent accuracy.
The scientists initially only used a limited vocabulary of six signs — those for “alligator,” “spider,” “box,” “wall,” “behind” and “in” — all signs that involve broad gestures with the arms and body.
“What we’re doing now is working on computer vision algorithms to get more information on hand shapes from the Kinect,” said researcher Helene Brashear, a computer scientist and president of Georgia Tech spinoff company Tin Min Labs in Austin, Texas. In the future, the scientists also hope that an improved Kinect sensor with even higher-resolution imaging comes out.
The scientists are working on a game called Copycat aimed at helping deaf children practice sign language. “Ninety-five percent of deaf children are born to hearing parents, very few of whom are fluent in sign, so we want to support these children as much as possible,” Brashear explained.
In the long run, sensors such as the Kinect could lead to ways for computers to understand sign language and translate it to English or other languages. “That’s far off, but it could happen,” Brashear told TechNewsDaily. “Right now, advances in technology have really helped the deaf community — video chat is huge there, for instance.

Future of French language to be decided in Brussels

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Originally Published at http://www.euractiv.com/en/culture/future-french-language-decided-brussels-news-503739

Officials at the International Francophony Organisaiton (OIF) have warned of “catastrophic” use of French in EU institutions, as the language’s position in Brussels becomes ever more fragile, a conference heard last week (31 March).

Roger Dehaybe from the Francophonie – an international organisation of mostly French-speaking countries – said the idea that the French language had maintained its global status thanks to steady population growth in Africa was misleading.

Instead, he underscored the “catastrophic” state of French language use within the EU institutions.
“The future of French will be decided in Brussels,” warned Dehaybe, because the EU is the only political and economic power in the world where French still matters.

Dehaybe is Honorary Chair of the Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francophonie, the former name of the OIF, which he chaired from 1998 to 2005. He was speaking at a conference hosted by the Association of former French-speaking members of parliament on 31 March.

According to Dehaybe, only 12% of EU texts are produced in French, although a majority of officials are from countries that are member states of the OIF.

Particular concern was voiced over the language criteria for positions in the new European External Action Service presided over by Baroness Catherine Ashton.

The EEAS will use English as its main language after Germany demanded that the EU institutions’ three working languages – English, French and German – be placed on an equal footing or English be given preference.

A single language for the EU?
Given that Europe has managed to introduce a single currency, Dehaybe expressed fear that it might be able to introduce a “single working language, too,” with disastrous consequences for the use of the French language in the world.

As an example of such a scenario, he cited Rwanda, a country that switched school education from French to English in 2008.

If something similar happened within the EU, the French language would lose much of its prestige and value as a second language for people all over the world, Dehaybe warned.

A two-speed OIF?
Even within the Francophony organisation itself, French was often no longer the language of debate, Dehaybe said. This was due to an ever-increasing number of OIF member states that are not strictly French-speaking.

The OIF has 56 members and associate members and 19 observer nations, some of which only have loose ties with the French language, for example being surrounded on all sides by French-speaking countries, as is the case of Equatorial Guinea.
One way to make the OIF a more efficient tool for protecting the French language, Dehaybe said, would be to create “entities” or inner circles within the organisation, depending on the “specific linguistic situation of a country”.

This can be read as a diplomatic way of saying that only genuinely francophone countries would get to participate in certain debates.
This way, OIF enlargement would again be unproblematic and beneficial to the cause of promoting French, the conference heard.

Serbian-Albanian Legal Dictionary presented

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Minister of Justice Snezana Malovic said today that the Serbian-Albanian Legal Dictionary will further enhance the work of courts and prosecution, and will greatly benefit representatives of both the Serbian and Albanian communities in Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja.

Speaking at a presentation of the Serbian-Albanian Legal Dictionary at the Faculty of Law in Nis, Malovic stressed that this dictionary affirms the Serbian government’s commitment and readiness to provide full support to national minorities. It is also one of the ways to improve the relations between the Serbian and the Albanian people.

She recalled that during the general election of judges in December 2009 in communities with national minorities, special attention was paid to their inclusion in legal organs.

The importance of the Legal Dictionary is reflected in the fact that it is intended for both legal experts and common citizens as it is written in everyday language.

The Albanian national minority in Serbia, just as all other minorities, is guaranteed the use of its national symbols and language at the local level, education and access to justice in its native tongue, Malovic recalled.

Minister of Human and Minority Rights, Public Administration and Local Self-Government and President of the Coordinating Body for Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja Milan Markovic said that the Legal Dictionary will further improve court practice and help to resolve issues in this remit.

He recalled that there are sections of the law and economics faculties in Nis where lectures are simultaneously translated into Albanian for students of this minority group.

The Minister endorsed the cooperation between the Nis Faculty of Law and The Faculty of Law from Tirana, as part of the establishment of a network of legal schools in south-eastern Europe.

The drafting of the Serbian-Albanian Legal Dictionary was financed by the Coordinating Body for Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, and editor-in-chief is Commissioner for Equality Nevenka Petrusic.

Originally published in http://www.emg.rs/en/news/serbia/151226.html

The ‘Great Invisible Industry’ That Speaks Your Language

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In an increasingly globalized society, knowing more than one language is often a major advantage in the job market. However, being an expert in a language is a highly successful and competitive career in itself. And in times of world tragedy, such as the recent tsunami and earthquakes that ravaged Japan, being a translator gives you something other than money to donate.

Kevin Hendzel, spokesperson for the American Translators Association, said the industry has more than 13.5 million translators and interpreters and has been growing at a rate of 13% annually over the past several years – despite the rough economic backdrop. Today, translators work everywhere from courtrooms to hospitals, tech companies and government, providing a vast array of services.

The industry serves in 180 different languages, Hendzel said. The federal government spends more than $1 billion annually on translator services and state and local governments collectively spend $900 million.
“The industry is much larger than people know,” Hendzel said. “It one of those great invisible industries, and a great enabler of international commerce.”

Aside from being experts in their language, Hendzel said translators also need to be experts in their concentration. He has been a translator of Russian to English for more than 25 years, and works in the nuclear materials field. Typically translators have one dominant language and area of expertise, he said.
“The problem with doing different languages and subjects is there isn’t enough room in your brain,” he said. “They need to have a huge base of knowledge to be successful. It’s harder for kids coming out of school, because they know a lot about a language, but not a lot about the world.”

Being an expert in a specific area, in addition to knowing a language inside and out, helps to differentiate a translator from his or her competition, Hendzel said.

“Doing Spanish translation in the U.S. for example, even if you are very skilled, you have an enormous amount of competition,” he said.

The most in-demand translators are those speaking Arabic languages, when it comes to open government positions, and French, Portuguese, Spanish, Korean, Japanese and Chinese are more in-demand on the technology side of things. Many translators work freelance, earning between $25,000 and $175,000 a year, Hendzel said. United Nations translators are on the higher end of the pay scale, earning between $150,000 and $200,000 a year.

“There is a lot of money out there for translators and interpreters,” he said. “Many people do this as a second career, after doing something else for a long time. This is the only industry that grew through the recession, because globalization continues to accelerate and demand continues to grow.”

Translators also often flock to foreign countries in the aftermath of disasters, like the recent earthquakes and tsunami in Japan. Hendzel estimates there will be more than 10,000 translators and interpreters working in the country due to the recent tragedies.

When the earthquake struck Haiti a little more than a year ago, there were nearly 4,000 translators in the country within 24 hours, he said. Many translators work pro-bono in such cases for different charities or news organizations.

“The community response was quite significant,” Hendzel said of the Haiti situation. “There were less than 2,000 working there in the end, some paid, some volunteer. Haitian Creole and French — it’s a tougher language. Japanese is an entirely different situation.”
http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/03/28/translator-careers-growing/

Localization, LLC Helps Businesses Navigate in the World of Languages

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Languages are living organisms. They are complex and multi-layered. And no one knows that better than Localization, LLC—after all, they are a translation agency that has been at it for a while now. Localization, LLC is a Cleveland based translation firm that provides such services as translation, interpretation, voice over and dubbing.

The list of the languages that the company works with is impressive. "The most requested languages that we get are Spanish, French, German, Russian, Cantonese, Japanese, Italian, Arabic and Hebrew," notes Ray Michaels, Marketing Director at Localization, LLC, "but all in all, we work with over 50 language combinations including very rare African and Asian languages."

The company contributes a lot of its success to outstanding customer service. The management realizes that a lot of its first time clients have never dealt with translation before. When a translation project lands on the desk of a project coordinator, he/she uses all of the knowledge and capabilities to ensure that the translation has the right dialect, register and tone.

Take Spanish for example. There are European, Mexican and South American dialects that Spanish carries and if a project coordinator fails to determine the right one the translation may end up sounding awkward to the reader or even offensive. Right, offensive; many languages, Spanish is one of them, have formal and informal way of addressing an individual, and if the translator is using a wrong dialect he/she may miss formal form where necessary which could be very offensive to the reader.

Another reason why it's important to know the dialect the text is going to be translated is to show that the seller is making an effort to show that he/she respects the regions' inhabitants, their culture and language.
And lastly, a matter of simple understanding," adds Mr. Michaels. "Take a word "email; it is different in Canadian and European French."

"I can't stress out enough the importance of dialects," continues Ray. "Take English as an example. There is US English, UK English, Australian and Canadian. Believe it or not, we've had a number of projects where after talking to the client, linguists and researches, we had determined that changing a document from US to UK English was the right course of action. It may make you smile, I know, but believe it or not, the right dialect and tone of the translated text is that important."

Choosing the right translation company is very important for your project. Mr. Michaels suggests that the potential client should always ask a translation company the following questions:

•     Does the translation company use machine translation (If yes, do not use them. Ever)
•     Does the translation company use Computer Assisted Translation Tools (CAT Tools) (If yes, absolutely use them, absolutely do not use them if their reply is: "What is CAT Tools?" It's as bad as if a surgeon asked you what a scalpel is)
•     Does the company use native speakers of the target language (target: the language the document is being translated into: source language: original language of the document)
•     Always ask for a written quote
•     Make sure the deadline is agreed upon in writing

"These questions should give those searching for a translation provider a pretty good idea about that particular provider and their capabilities.

"Translation is actually a very exiting process for the company," concludes Ray. "That means the company is expanding, going into new markets and is trying to reach new clientele and in today's economy, that's exciting to see."
To learn more about translation and other language services please visit Localization, LLC at http://www.localizationllc.com/ or by calling 216.785.5252

Continuing with Word Languages

Translation Services Cleveland OHIO—Language: Aasáx

Aasáx

A language of Tanzania

ISO 639-3: aas

Population	350 (1999 J. Carr).
Region	North, central Maasai Steppe, Landenai, Ndovu Okutu, Lolbeni villages. Also reportedly in Lemelebo, Landrobo, Naitomani districts.
Language map	Tanzania, reference number 43
Alternate names	Aasá, Asá, Asak, Asax, Assa, “Dorobo” , Il Konono, Lamanik, “Ndorobo”
Classification	Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, South
Language use	In 1999 reportedly still spoken in the central Massai Steppe. No remaining speakers in the eastern Maasai Steppe in 1976. Dependent on the Maasai and absorbed into Maasai and nearby Bantu groups. Also use Maasai [mas].
Comments	‘Assa’ is the name for the people. ‘Lamanik’ and ‘Il Konono’ apparently refer to ancestry and not the language. In the last 4 districts mentioned the Assa are nomadic and hold joint religious ceremonies with the Temi (Sonjo) to the north. Hunter-gatherers; settled and nomadic.

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This web edition of the Ethnologue contains all the content of the print edition and may be cited as:
Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/.