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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East Africa Community Affairs, Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga disclosed that the Government of Uganda is to make the Kiswahili language a compulsory and examinable subject in primary and secondary schools. Kadaga made the remarks while addressing journalists at the EAC Affairs Ministry, located at the Kingdom building in Kampala on Wednesday. The joint Press Conference brought together representatives from the Ministries of Gender, Labor and Social Development, Defence and Veteran Affairs, Education and Sports and top leadership from the EAC Secretariat. “Kiswahili has been recognized by the Ugandan Cabinet as an official language and is widely spoken in the EAC bloc and beyond. Being an indigenous African language, Uganda must adopt its usage widely by making the language a compulsory and examinable subject in both primary and secondary schools,” she said. She called upon the media to popularize the Kiswahili language more than other foreign languages because Kiswahili has its origin in Africa, where Africans have to be proud of speaking the language. She added that Kiswahili plays a pivotal role in accelerating regional trade in the EAC bloc as the mode of communication among traders and their customers.
BySanskar Tiwari Jul 11 2023 03:37 PM In a world that is becoming increasingly interconnected, cultural exchange and cross-cultural understanding play a crucial role in fostering harmony, empathy, and appreciation among diverse communities. These processes of sharing knowledge, experiences, and traditions between different cultures have numerous benefits that extend beyond personal growth to encompass social, economic, and educational aspects. In this article, we will explore the significant advantages of cultural exchange and cross-cultural understanding and how they contribute to a more inclusive and enlightened society. 1. Introduction
Cultural exchange refers to the process of sharing ideas, values, traditions, and perspectives between individuals or groups from different cultural backgrounds. It involves open communication and interaction, allowing people to gain insights into diverse worldviews and ways of life. Cross-cultural understanding, on the other hand, is the ability to appreciate, respect, and empathize with other cultures, leading to a deeper comprehension of the shared human experience. 2. Enhancing Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity One of the primary benefits of cultural exchange and cross-cultural understanding is the development of cultural awareness and sensitivity. By engaging with different cultures, individuals become more attuned to the nuances of various customs, traditions, and social norms. This heightened awareness fosters respect for cultural diversity and enables individuals to navigate cross-cultural interactions with greater sensitivity. 3. Promoting Tolerance and Acceptance Cultural exchange serves as a powerful tool for promoting tolerance and acceptance. As individuals learn about different cultures, they gain a broader perspective and realize that diversity is a strength rather than a source of division. By embracing and celebrating cultural differences, societies can cultivate an environment of inclusivity, where everyone feels valued and accepted. 4. Fostering Global Citizenship Cultural exchange and cross-cultural understanding are essential in fostering global citizenship. When individuals engage in cultural exchange, they develop a sense of belonging to a global community. They become more aware of global challenges, such as climate change, poverty, and human rights, and are motivated to contribute to positive change on a global scale. 5. Encouraging Mutual Learning and Growth
Cultural exchange provides an opportunity for mutual learning and growth. Through interactions with people from different cultures, individuals can exchange knowledge, skills, and ideas. This sharing of perspectives leads to personal and intellectual growth, expanding one's horizons and challenging preconceived notions. 6. Breaking Down Stereotypes and Prejudices
One of the most significant benefits of cultural exchange is its potential to break down stereotypes and prejudices. By engaging directly with individuals from different cultures, people can challenge their own biases and confront misconceptions. This process humanizes "the other" and fosters empathy, compassion, and understanding. 7. Inspiring Creativity and Innovation
Cultural exchange sparks creativity and innovation by exposing individuals to new ways of thinking and problem-solving. When people encounter different cultural practices and perspectives, they are inspired to think outside the box and explore alternative approaches. This cross-pollination of ideas fuels innovation and can lead to groundbreaking advancements in various fields. 8. Boosting Economic Opportunities
Cultural exchange also has economic benefits. As people from different cultures interact, they create opportunities for trade, tourism, and business collaborations. By capitalizing on cultural diversity, societies can tap into new markets, attract international investments, and foster economic growth. 9. Facilitating Peaceful Coexistence
Cultural exchange and cross-cultural understanding play a vital role in promoting peaceful coexistence. By fostering dialogue, empathy, and mutual respect, they contribute to resolving conflicts and preventing misunderstandings. When people understand and appreciate each other's cultures, they are more likely to find common ground and work towards peaceful solutions. 10. Strengthening International Relations
Cultural exchange acts as a bridge that strengthens international relations. By fostering connections and building friendships across borders, it promotes diplomacy, cooperation, and mutual trust. These intercultural connections lay the foundation for collaborative efforts in areas such as education, science, arts, and social development. 11. Conclusion
Cultural exchange and cross-cultural understanding bring numerous benefits to individuals, communities, and societies at large. They enhance cultural awareness, promote tolerance and acceptance, foster global citizenship, encourage mutual learning and growth, break down stereotypes, inspire creativity and innovation, boost economic opportunities, facilitate peaceful coexistence, and strengthen international relations. Embracing cultural exchange and nurturing cross-cultural understanding is key to building a harmonious and inclusive world.
INTERPRETERS working in the UK asylum system are dealing with a “chaotic” set-up which underestimates how crucial translators are... Williamson, who undertook the project which was funded and supervised by the UNESCO Chair for Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts and Dr Allison Phipps, said he saw this unfold for himself during a tribunal hearing he observed. During a case where the asylum seeker spoke Tetun, the official language of East Timor in Southeast Asia, Williamson said he noticed the interpreter was “acting in a strange manner” and appeared “agitated from the very start”. It later emerged that the asylum seeker did not understand the interpreter, who was speaking a dialect which was more heavily influenced by the “colonial language” Portuguese, but this was not raised until an hour into proceedings. “It just degenerated into a complete farce,” Williamson said. “What really came across there was that the onus was on the asylum seeker to raise concerns. “That obviously must be really intimidating, if you're turning up to a tribunal for the first time, your life is on the line, and you’ve got an interpreter who’s not necessarily wanting to admit there’s a problem because they want to get paid, or if there’s a conflict of interest there.” Williamson observed 20 tribunals as part of the research project, as well as conducting interviews. He also works as a freelance interpreter and has had some experience within the asylum system itself.
The Glasgow-based researcher pointed out that “tiny inconsistencies” such as a misspelt name or getting a birthday slightly wrong are all things that can be used by the Home Office to reject an asylum application. This, Williamson argued, is why having well-trained interpreters who are comfortable navigating the system is crucial. “There needs to be training made available specifically for the asylum system itself, which doesn’t focus just on language aspects, but looks in detail at the asylum system, how it functions, what people’s rights are, and how interpreters can take care of their own wellbeing as well,” he added. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Austria published a 244-page handbook for interpreters working with asylum seekers to help them navigate the procedures in place in 2022. Williamson urged the Home Office to look at embedding the guidance in the UK system, which he insists could be “easily adapted”. It sets out the role of the interpreter in the system, how to handle vulnerable applicants and the impact on their own mental health and well-being. A UK Government spokesperson said: "Interpreters are available to all asylum seekers, free of charge, at all stages of the asylum process, as part of the Immigration Rules. “We ensure that all interpreters are robustly trained and are highly qualified for the job.” The Home Office also pointed out that interpreters who work in the immigration system must either be a member of the National Register of Public Services Interpreters (NRPSI) or hold another qualification that meets their standards.
These stories provide an alternative history of well-known episodes of Maltese history Tue, Jul 11, 2023 'Capricious Tales from Malta – A History in its Making' by Aleks Farrugia, translated by Adrian Scerri. Capricious Tales from Malta – A History in its Making is a collection of 20 short stories published by SKS Publishers that take readers through the course of Maltese history in a bid to understand what being Maltese is all about. The book is an English translation of the award-winning short story collection Għall-Glorja tal-Patrija! by Aleks Farrugia. Inspired by the ‘apocryphal tales’ of Czech writer Karol Capek, these stories provide an alternative history of well-known episodes of Maltese history, blurring the line between the historical and fiction. “All throughout the collection is a study of situations and characters, and Farrugia has been lauded by critics of the Maltese edition of these stories for his creativity and for the strong characters he presents,” say the publishers. “The translation, done by Adrian Scerri, retains the flavour and idiom of the original Maltese version, while introductory notes by the translator, himself a historian, place the stories within the context of Maltese history, especially useful for the non-Maltese who can now enjoy these wonderful stories inspired by the character of us Maltese.” The collection begins during the temple-building era in prehistory and moves on to the transition from the Carthaginian to the Roman period. The stories seek to provide the reader with different, often contradicting, points of view It explores the origins of Christianity, the Arab rule, the Norman conquest, the Inquisition, the Great Siege of 1565, the rule of the Knights of Malta, the Napoleonic conquest and the Maltese revolt, the British colonial period, independence, life within the European Union, and a story about the future, exploring themes of race and multiculturalism. “The stories seek to provide the reader with different, often contradicting, points of view. Some of the tales have a light humorous touch, sometimes they verge on the satirical; others are more dramatic,” continue the publishers. This award-winning collection of short stories explores the history of Malta, at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, blurring the lines between the historical and the fictional, attempting in the process to explore the character of one of the smallest nations in the world. The collection begins during the temple-building era in prehistory and moves on to the transition from the Carthaginian to the Roman period. Photo: Shutterstock.com For centuries considered the playground of the powers that dominated the Mediterranean, the Maltese have been forged by war, religion, migration, slavery, colonialism, fratricide and factionalism, and to this day have to engage with their past as they look towards their future, they explain. These stories, with humour and pathos, introduce the reader to complex characters who often find themselves having to deal with external circumstances with wonder and unease, trying to figure out a way to belong but never really succeeding. Published by SKS, Capricious Tales from Malta reproduces the original cover designed by artist Luca Cauchi and has edited by Martin Bugelli. It can be found for sale in major bookshops around Malta and Gozo at the price of €15 or at the online bookshop skspublishers.com.
This is a translation of a longer Facebook post by Andre Markowicz. He is known for re-translating all of Dostoevsky’s fictional works, Pushkin’s most famous poem, “Evgeny Onegin”, and co-translating all of Chekhov’s plays as well as Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita” with François Morvan. Is. He is one of Putin’s most outspoken critics and has condemned Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine from day one. He considers Facebook “an intermediary between the written and the oral” and he runs his Facebook page as a platform for long essays on literature, translation and now the war in Ukraine. This is a June 23 post from Markowicz’s Facebook page, just a day before Yevgeny Prigozhin’s attempt to take up arms against Vladimir Putin proved unsuccessful. Shame i stood still My grandmother used to call me (I was about three years old) “stide i pozor” when I did something wrong, and I knew that meant I should be ashamed, because it was “mal’chik” instead. Was “Pozor”. iz intelligentnoye cm” (literally, the child of a family intelligentsia, or say a well-behaved child), for example, running to your plate first, or forgetting to wash your hands before sitting down to eat. Once, and only once in my memory, I remember the expression was reversed, and he said “pozor i stud”, and the tone was very different indeed that time. The truth is I’m not sure he was talking to me, but the truth is there was some great resentment in his voice. Russian often has two words whereas French has only one. One describes the external, while the other describes the internal. For example, you have “svoboda”, which means “freedom”, but it implies external freedom, political freedom. Much more important in the consciousness of the people is “volia”, which represents inner freedom, but also represents “will”. There are two words for “seduction”, and that is the bright core of “The Karamazov Brothers”. There is external temptation (of Saint Anthony), “Iskoucheni”, and internal temptation, which arises as if it came from your depths, “Soblazan” (the only word used by Dostoevsky). And there are two words for shame: “pozor” is external shame (the word comes from the same ancient root of the verb “to see”), which everyone notices. And you have “Stide”, the shame you feel if you have even the slightest bit of conscience in front of “Pozor”. “Pozor i stud” was the expression she used to say about my grandmother, and strangely, almost 60 years later, today when I think of Putin, I remember the tone of her voice, which times that he has “many Jewish friends” since childhood.” (yes, for example, Rotenberg), and then says that Zelensky is “a shame to the Jewish people” (“Pozor Evreskovo naroda”). Don’t know if Putin is a shame to the Russian people (this would assume such people exist in Russia, i.e. Russian people apart from the Jewish people…), but it is certain that never, no, since Never, at least not since the Mongols, has Russia been in that state of shame. And it has never caused so much shame for those who love it in one way or another (even if I don’t know what it means to love a country, and I certainly don’t want to do that). Let’s say, for those who, for better or worse, linked their fate with Russia, for those Those who, like me, spend their lives trying to express, in some way or another, for example, that which is alive, and dynamic, and vivid, and sublime. , in books written in Russian. I’m not going to repeat here everything I keep saying, not since February 22nd (full scale Russian invasion of Ukraine), but since I’ve been on Facebook, ie exactly 10 years ago (June 2013), Russia Always ruled by tyrants. As far as I can go, I have no example of a leader or king who, since Ivan the Terrible and even much earlier, did not launch large-scale repression against this or that category of his population. But what happens with Putin, who is a shame for Russia, “pozor rossi”, is that he has added to tyranny the most shameless mafia and its vulgarity. Yes, Russia is a country ruled by the mafia, like, I don’t know, Noriega’s Panama. Corruption, which has always been endemic and pernicious in Russia – again, because there is a lot of evidence about Russia – is absolutely absolute. There is nothing more than that. And then there is this plight, black, filth, of people’s life in the provinces. And this violence, which we see spreading in Ukraine, and which we saw in Chechnya, and then in Syria (without saying anything to the world, without doing anything). And this perpetual, shameless lie of those who speak in the name of the state, or who have a right to speak, and this hatred they spew, and this obsession with lying. Yes, it is a constant shame in everything that happens from day to day, while there is not a single area of life that is not contaminated by this shame. Read Also: Thai king celebrated his 70th birthday with great pomp It is here, from “pozor,” the visible embarrassment, that I move to “stide,” the feeling that, day after day, night after night, consumes me and makes me, in exhaustion, hold one hand For, inspires to continue. It seems to me that it is more and more certain, but it is also a source of energy. «Mne stidno». I am ashamed. I see what is happening in Russia, I see people who call for even more repression, even more hatred, people who will not hesitate to blow up the world when faced with the threat of losing power , when I listen to Prigozhin’s little nursery rhymes, the tone of his voice, dastardly, dirty, his frequent obscene language (obscenity is used as a political weapon and … apparently, it works), Putin Rhyming threads of, a sense of inner defilement, a feeling of burning black shame, which pervades all life. I clench my teeth. I clench my fists. And then I loosen them, those fists, and try to write down my shame day by day. Not to free him. But to make it something that we all share.
Si les autorités marocaines se défendent de vouloir tourner le dos au français, la généralisation de l’enseignement de l’anglais traduit un changement de paradigme dans la pensée des citoyens du royaume, que le modèle français ne fait plus rêver. Réservé aux abonnés 10 juillet 2023 à 09:08 Mis à jour le 10 juillet 2023 à 09:16 Quatrième pays le plus francophone du monde, le royaume chérifien est-il en train de basculer ? Ou, comme ont pu l’interpréter les néo-nationalistes qui fleurissent ces dernières années au Maroc et qui sont particulièrement actifs sur les réseaux sociaux, la généralisation de l’enseignement de l’anglais dès la rentrée scolaire, en septembre, dans tous les collèges du pays, qu’ils soient privés ou publics, est-elle un pas de plus dans l’escalade des tensions entre Rabat et Paris ? À en croire les pouvoirs publics marocains et tous les intellectuels qui relaient la doxa officielle, cette décision, annoncée en grande pompe à la fin de mai par Chakib Benmoussa, le ministre de l’Éducation nationale, n’est en aucun cas une riposte contre la France sur l’un des principaux bastions de l’influence de l’Hexagone au Maroc : la francophonie....
"L'ambassade de Tanzanie en Algérie a célébré, vendredi à Alger, la Journée mondiale de la langue kiswahilie, instituée par l'Unesco le 7 juillet de chaque année. Lors de cette cérémonie, une conférence sur cette langue a été animée par la cheffe de la chancellerie à l'ambassade, Shamim Rashid Khalfan, qui a donné un aperçu sur la genèse du kiswahili, cette langue originaire d'Afrique de l'Est qui a été influencée par d'autres langues, notamment la langue arabe, sa diffusion dans de nombreux pays d'Afrique de l'Est et la région des Grands Lacs, et son adoption en tant que langue officielle par plusieurs organisations africaines. Usitée par «plus de 200 millions de personnes» en Afrique de l'Est et dans le monde, le kiswahili est la langue officielle de plusieurs pays africains, pour ne citer que la Tanzanie, a-t-elle expliqué. La cérémonie à laquelle ont assisté des professionnels de la presse et des représentants du corps diplomatique accrédité à Alger, a été marquée par la présentation de communications en kiswahili, l'organisation d'un défilé de mode des tenues traditionnelles tanzaniennes ainsi que l'exécution de danses et de chants traditionnels représentant diverses ethnies en Tanzanie, également établies dans certains pays voisins." #metaglossia_mundus
Communicating effectively across cultural lines requires perseverance and sensitivity to one another’s differences, writes Michael Strickland. Interacting and communicating effectively across cultural lines requires perseverance and sensitivity to one another’s differences, writes guest columnist Michael Strickland. (Illustration courtesy of Getty Images) Mark, an American, is sitting next to Sheila on an airplane. She is a first-time traveler to the United States, from England. They strike up a conversation. Mark: So, Sheila, are you feeling ready for your first trip to the states? Sheila: I’m excited about starting, but I feel a tad paggered. Last night I got pretty pissed. Mark: Aw. That’s a bummer. Who upset you? Sheila: No one. My friends and I just talked about farty things. No dicky fits. Luke: Uh, Oh. OK? (Mark’s friend, Luke sits in the third seat) Mark: Luke, this is Sheila, from London. Sheila: Hello. Nice to meet you. Mark and I were just having a bit of intercourse. Would you like to join us? Luke: Really?! Mark: No! No! No! We were just talking! In Sheila’s England, the word paggered means tired. The slang term pissed refers to to getting drunk. When something is farty, that means it is insignificant. A dicky fit is an emotional outburst, and intercourse simply means to have a conversation. Simply put, Sheila was tired because she had been drunk the night before. But she didn’t find it to be a big deal. When Luke sat down, she simply invited him into the conversation. I have been fortunate to spend the last several years teaching courses that highlight the necessity of equipping ourselves with knowledge and skills in intercultural communication so that we can live harmoniously and function effectively as citizens of this global community. The capacity to communicate with people from diverse cultures is a form of competence that is increasingly growing in importance. Working with the international community for economic survival means countries and cultures can no longer operate in a vacuum. Because of this, intercultural communication is no longer a choice but a must. Idaho is changing. On the Boise School District website, you can click for translations in Cantonese, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean, Russian and Hindi. Teachers in Idaho and Utah have told me they have encountered students with 12 – 25 different first-languages and national origins in a single classroom. Boise’s Taft Elementary hosts students from over 15 different countries speaking 13 different languages and provides Halal lunches for children of Muslim faith. Interacting effectively across cultural lines requires perseverance and sensitivity to one another’s differences. This encompasses language skills, customs, ways of thinking, social norms and habits. The term global village was coined by Canadian media culture analyst Marshall McLuhan almost six decades ago. It describes a world in which communication technology brings news and information to the most remote parts of the world. This is no longer an abstract idea, but the very place we now live in. We can exchange ideas as easily and quickly with people across the world as our ancestors did within the confines of their village. We encounter people from different cultures in business, at school, in public places, in neighborhoods and in virtual space. Our world is a much smaller place than ever. This is evident in the everyday items we use. For example, we may wear clothes made in Mexico, purchase seafood from Norway, dine out with friends in a Korean restaurant, work at a computer made in Japan or drive a car manufactured in Germany. The list goes on. Each encounter with food, clothing, languages, products, services or practices teaches us something new. It broadens our horizons and helps us to appreciate the diversity of the world around us. More than ever before, we realize that our lives are intertwined with people, places, practices and events outside our own “village” culture. A number of factors contribute to these dynamics, such as immigration, cross-border business, international education and digital technology-enabled virtual communication. Given that intercultural encounters bring opportunities for understanding between people as well as possibilities of misunderstanding, I spend a lot of time talking with my students about challenges that cultural diversity brings. Misunderstandings resulting from a lack of familiarity with another culture are often embarrassing. Blunders in this area can make it difficult, if not impossible, to reach an agreement with another country or close a business contract with a foreign partner. For travelers, a faux pas can also make interactions more awkward. There are many ways in which people all around the world are similar, yet it is our differences that truly define us. To put it simply, communication is the exchange of ideas and information between individuals by any means, verbal or otherwise. Sharing knowledge with others requires familiarity with social norms, body language and etiquette. I encourage people to get involved in organizations where intercultural communication is valued and practiced. One of my favorites is the Idaho Office of Refugees. See: https://www.idahorefugees.org/get-involved.html Having the ability to communicate effectively across cultural boundaries is critical for the success of any intercultural or multinational endeavor. It helps improve relationships by facilitating two-way conversations, which in turn foster mutual understanding between people of diverse backgrounds. We need to continually pave the way for everyone to appreciate the necessity of developing intercultural knowledge and skills so they can confidently and competently address the many challenges of living in the global community.
Drawing upon the framework of linguistic citizenship, the chapters in this book link questions of language to sociopolitical discourses of justice, rights and equity, as well as to issues of power and access. They present powerful evidence of how marginalized speakers reclaim their voices and challenge power relations. The Power of Voice in Transforming Multilingual Societies - Format:
- Paperback
- Related Formats:
- Hardback, Ebook(PDF), Ebook(EPUB)
- ISBN:
-
9781800412026 - Published:
- 30th Jun 2023
- Publisher:
- Multilingual Matters
- Number of pages:
- 264
- Dimensions:
- 234mm x 156mm
- Availability:
- Available (recent release)
Request an inspection copy Price: £34.95 Price: $49.95 Price: €44.95 This volume aims to capture evidence of marginalized voices in various contexts globally and show how speakers seek to reclaim their voices and challenge power relations. The chapters reveal how speakers actively confront inequities in society such as the unequal distribution of resources. Through bottom-up initiatives and conscious involvement in language use, documentation and the development of language domains, speakers can address issues of language-based marginalization, (re)establish linguistic human rights and reclaim their linguistic and cultural identity. Chapters in the volume explore commitments to democratic participation, to voice, to the heterogeneity of linguistic resources and to the political value of sociolinguistic understanding. Drawing upon the framework of linguistic citizenship, they link questions of language to sociopolitical discourses of justice, rights and equity, as well as to issues of power and access within a political and democratic framework.
Discover what Europeans call cell phones in this fascinating article. Explore the diverse terms used across Europe for these devices and learn about the cultural differences in naming conventions. Written by: Alma Fleming | Published: July 11, 2023 Source: Unsplash.com Have you ever wondered what Europeans call cell phones? It turns out that while we commonly refer to these devices as “cell phones” or “mobile phones” in English-speaking countries, the terminology varies across Europe. Each country has its own unique name for these ubiquitous gadgets, reflecting the rich linguistic diversity of the continent. In this article, we will explore the fascinating world of European cell phone terminology, shedding light on the different names and expressions used to describe these devices in various countries. From “Handy” in Germany to “GSM” in France, get ready to dive into the intriguing world of European cell phone nomenclature! Inside This Article - Variety of Names for Cell Phones in Europe
- Popular Terminology for Cell Phones in European Countries
- Regional Differences in Cell Phone Terminology across Europe
- Influence of English Language on Cell Phone Terminology in Europe
- Conclusion
- FAQs
Variety of Names for Cell Phones in Europe Europe is a diverse continent with a multitude of languages and cultures. Unsurprisingly, this diversity extends to the terminology used to refer to cell phones. In each European country, you will find a unique name or term for this ubiquitous device that has become an essential part of modern life. Let’s explore the variety of names for cell phones in Europe: Terminology in English-speaking European countries In countries like the United Kingdom and Ireland, the most common term for a cell phone is “mobile phone” or simply “mobile.” This term is also widely used in Malta and Cyprus. In Scotland, you might hear it being referred to as a “moby,” a shortened form of “mobile.” Terminology in French-speaking European countries In French-speaking countries such as France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Luxembourg, a cell phone is commonly known as a “téléphone portable” or simply “portable.” In Canada, particularly in Quebec, you are likely to hear the term “cellulaire” being used. Terminology in German-speaking European countries Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein, where German is spoken, use the term “Handy” to refer to a cell phone. This derived from English and became a commonly used term in the German language. Terminology in Spanish-speaking European countries In Spain, the term for cell phone is “móvil” or “teléfono móvil.” This term is also used in other Spanish-speaking European countries like Andorra and Gibraltar. In Catalonia, the region in northeast Spain, you might hear “mòbil” being used. Terminology in Italian-speaking European countries In Italy, a cell phone is typically called a “cellulare” or “telefono cellulare.” The term “cell” or “cel” is also commonly used as a shorter version. Similar terms are used in San Marino and Switzerland’s Italian-speaking region of Ticino. Terminology in Nordic countries In Nordic countries like Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland, you are likely to come across the term “mobil” or “mobiltelefon.” These terms are the equivalent of English’s “mobile phone.” However, the term “Nokia” is sometimes used colloquially, after the popular Finnish mobile phone brand. Terminology in Eastern European countries Eastern European countries have their own terminology for cell phones. For example, in countries like Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Slovenia, the term “mobil” or “mobilni telefon” is commonly used. Terminology in Southern European countries In countries like Greece, Portugal, and Cyprus, the term for a cell phone is “??????” (“kinitó” in Greek) and “telemóvel” in Portuguese. These terms are widely understood and used by the local population. As you can see, the variety of names for cell phones in Europe reflects the linguistic diversity and cultural uniqueness of each country. Whether you’re in an English-speaking country, a French-speaking region, or anywhere else in Europe, it’s always interesting to learn how different languages and cultures give a distinct name to this indispensable device. Popular Terminology for Cell Phones in European Countries Across Europe, cell phones have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. However, the terminology used to refer to these devices can vary greatly from country to country. In this article, we will explore the popular terminology used for cell phones in different European countries. United Kingdom: In the United Kingdom, cell phones are commonly referred to as “mobile phones” or simply “mobiles.” This term has become so ingrained in British culture that it is often used interchangeably with the word “phone.” France: In French-speaking European countries, such as France, cell phones are known as “téléphones portables” or simply “portables.” This terminology highlights the portable nature of these devices. Germany: Germans use the term “Handy” to refer to cell phones. This term might sound strange to English speakers, but it has become the standard term for mobile phones in Germany. Spain: In Spain, the most common term used for cell phones is “móviles.” This term is derived from the Spanish word for “mobile” and is widely understood and used throughout the country. Italy: Italians commonly refer to cell phones as “telefoni cellulari” or simply “cellulari.” This term emphasizes the cellular network technology that powers these devices. Nordic Countries: In countries like Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland, cell phones are often called “mobiltelefon” or “mobil” for short. These terms are similar to the English term “mobile phone.” Eastern European Countries: In Eastern European countries, including Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, cell phones are commonly referred to as “telefon komórkowy,” “mobiltelefon,” or simply “mobil.” Southern European Countries: In countries like Greece, Portugal, and Turkey, the term “cep telefonu” is used, meaning “pocket telephone” in Turkish. The term “telemóvel” is used in Portugal, which is a combination of the Portuguese words for “telephone” and “mobile.” While these are the popular terminology used in European countries, it’s important to note that some countries may have regional variations or dialectal differences in their terminology. Additionally, with the increasing globalization and influence of the English language, terms such as “smartphone” are also widely used and understood in many European countries. Understanding the different terminology for cell phones in European countries can be helpful when traveling or communicating with people from different linguistic backgrounds. It highlights the rich diversity of languages and cultures across Europe while also showcasing our shared reliance on and fascination with these remarkable devices. Regional Differences in Cell Phone Terminology across Europe Europe is a diverse continent with a multitude of languages and cultures. This diversity is reflected not only in its cuisine, traditions, and landscapes, but also in the terminology used to refer to cell phones. While the English language has a dominant presence, there are various regional differences in the way Europeans refer to their beloved devices. Terminology in English-speaking European countries In countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Malta, the term “mobile phone” is commonly used to refer to cell phones. This terminology aligns with the British English vocabulary. Terminology in French-speaking European countries Across French-speaking European countries like France, Belgium, and Switzerland, the term “téléphone portable” is commonly used. This literal translation of “portable phone” reflects the French language influence. Terminology in German-speaking European countries In countries like Germany, Austria, and Switzerland where German is spoken, the term “Handy” is widely used. This term can be misleading for English speakers as it refers to a cell phone, not something that is easily held in one’s hand. Terminology in Spanish-speaking European countries In Spanish-speaking countries in Europe such as Spain and parts of southern France, the term “móvil” or “teléfono móvil” is commonly used. Terminology in Italian-speaking European countries In Italy, the term “cellulare” is used to refer to cell phones. This term is derived from the Italian word for “cellular” and is widely recognized across the country. Terminology in Nordic countries In Nordic countries like Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark, the term “mobil” or “mobiltelefon” is commonly used. These terms align with the Scandinavian language family. Terminology in Eastern European countries In Eastern European countries such as Poland, Hungary, and Romania, the English word “phone” is often incorporated into the local language, with terms like “telefon mobil” or “telefon komórkowy” being used. Terminology in Southern European countries In countries like Greece, Portugal, and Cyprus, the term “??????” (kineto) or “telemóvel” is commonly used to refer to cell phones. It’s clear that there are various regional differences in the terminology used to refer to cell phones across Europe. These differences reflect the linguistic and cultural diversity present on the continent. As travelers venture from one country to another, they may encounter new and unique terms for cell phones, adding to the charm and richness of their European experience. Influence of English Language on Cell Phone Terminology in Europe When it comes to cell phone terminology in Europe, one cannot ignore the significant influence of the English language. English is considered the lingua franca of the digital age, and its prevalence in various industries, including technology, has made it a prominent force in shaping the vocabulary used to refer to cell phones across Europe. English terms like “cell phone” or “mobile phone” have become widely recognized and used in many European countries. These terms are straightforward and easily understood, making them popular choices for describing the portable communication devices we carry with us daily. In countries like the United Kingdom and Ireland, the term “mobile phone” is commonly used. It is a direct translation of the American English term “cell phone.” This term has established itself as the standard way to refer to these devices in these English-speaking countries. However, even in non-English speaking countries, English terminology has made its mark. In many European countries, especially those with a strong English influence in their language and culture, terms like “smartphone” and “iPhone” are used widely. These English words have become universal, representing the cutting-edge technology and functionalities that smartphones offer. It is interesting to note that while English language terms dominate in many European countries, there are also instances where local variations have emerged. For example, in Germany, the term “Handy” is commonly used to refer to a cell phone. This term originated from the English word “handheld” but has taken on a different meaning in German. Similarly, in France, the term “téléphone portable” is widely used, emphasizing the portability aspect of the device. Moreover, the growing presence of English words in cell phone terminology is not limited to Western European countries. In countries like Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, English terms like “smartphone” or “iPhone” have also become popular choices to describe these devices. This adoption of English terminology reflects the global nature of technology and the interconnectedness of the European region. Overall, the influence of the English language on cell phone terminology in Europe is undeniable. Whether it’s the widespread use of terms like “mobile phone” or the adoption of English words like “smartphone,” the English language has left an indelible mark on how Europeans refer to their cell phones. This linguistic influence not only demonstrates the power of English as a global language but also highlights the seamless integration of technology across borders and cultures in the digital age. Conclusion In conclusion, the variety of names for cell phones across Europe showcases the rich cultural differences that exist within the continent. From the British “mobile” to the French “portable” and the German “Handy,” it is clear that language and regional preferences play a significant role in shaping the terminology. While the terms may differ, the purpose of these devices remains the same – to connect people across distances and provide a portable communication solution. With the advent of smartphones, the naming conventions have expanded even further, with terms like “iPhone” and “Samsung Galaxy” becoming popular across Europe. However, despite the array of names, the underlying function of these devices remains consistent – to enhance communication, provide access to information, and offer a range of features and applications to make our lives easier. Exploring the different names for cell phones throughout Europe not only highlights linguistic diversity but also emphasizes the shared experience of technology that transcends borders. Whether you call it a mobile, portable, Handy, or smartphone, these devices have become an integral part of our daily lives, connecting us to the world and to each other in ways that were once unimaginable. So, next time you embark on a journey across Europe, don’t be surprised if you come across different names for cell phones. Embrace the cultural diversity and remember that no matter what name you use, the essence of these devices remains the same – to keep us connected and empower us in this modern, digital age. FAQs 1. What do Europeans call cell phones?
In Europe, cell phones are commonly referred to as “mobile phones” or simply “mobiles.” The term “cell phone” is more commonly used in the United States, while Europeans tend to use the term “mobile” or “mobile phone” to describe these portable communication devices. 2. Are there any other names for cell phones in Europe?
Yes, besides “mobile phones,” Europeans might also use other terms to refer to cell phones. For example, in the United Kingdom, people often call them “mobiles” or “handsets.” It’s worth noting that colloquial terms may vary from country to country within Europe. 3. Are there any differences between European and American cell phones?
While the basic functionalities of cell phones are the same across regions, there might be some differences between European and American cell phones. One significant difference is the compatibility with cellular networks. European cell phones tend to use GSM technology, whereas American cell phones often use CDMA technology. However, with the rise of global compatibility, many phones now support both technologies. 4. Can I use my American cell phone in Europe?
Yes, you can use your American cell phone in Europe, but there are a few things to consider. First, ensure that your phone is unlocked and compatible with the European cellular network standards (GSM). You may need to contact your service provider to activate international roaming and verify if there are any additional charges or limitations. Alternatively, you can also purchase a local SIM card in Europe to use with your phone. 5. How do Europeans typically use their mobile phones?
Mobile phone usage in Europe is similar to other parts of the world. People use their mobile phones for various purposes, including making phone calls, sending text messages, browsing the internet, using social media, taking photos and videos, accessing online banking, and utilizing various mobile applications. Mobile phones have become essential tools for communication and staying connected in Europe, just like in other regions.
An electronic petition to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy against the ban on dubbing English-language films in cinemas has received the necessary 25,000 votes for consideration. This is evidenced by the data on the President's website, Ukrainian News Agency reports. The corresponding petition was registered on July 4, and as of the morning of July 10, it had more than 28,000 votes. Its initiator is Ukrainian actor and dubbing director Pavlo Skorokhodko. The petition notes that Zelenskyy submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a bill "On the use of the English language in Ukraine", which stipulates that from 2027, all foreign films whose original language is English will be shown in cinemas in the original language without dubbing in Ukrainian. The author of the petition asks Zelenskyy to review this point and make changes to the bill. "I suggest not to destroy cinema dubbing, but to increase the number of sessions in the original language with Ukrainian subtitles, in order to leave the potential viewer the right to choose in which language to watch movies," he notes. The petition emphasizes that in Ukraine dubbing has long become a separate cultural phenomenon and a part of cultural heritage, its cancellation, albeit gradual, will inevitably lead to a significant decrease in the popularity of the Ukrainian language, since it was dubbing that at one time contributed to its significant popularization. Also, according to the author, the refusal of Ukrainian dubbing will lead to a noticeable decrease in the number of viewers in cinemas, therefore, cinemas, as well as the entire industry of dubbing film production, will suffer. He also believes that such a decision is guaranteed to encourage a potential viewer to watch movies on pirate sites in Russian, since the movies that the viewer would like to watch will not be translated into Ukrainian. As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on June 28, Zelenskyy submitted a bill to the Verkhovna Rada, proposing to officially establish the status of English as one of the languages of international communication in Ukraine. This bill prohibits the dubbing of English-language films in cinemas from 2027. According to it, foreign films whose original language is English are shown in cinemas in the original language with Ukrainian subtitles. It is predicted that the share of films shown in the original language with subtitles in the state language will be 50% in 2025, 75% in 2026, and 100% from 2027.
Nye County is the nation’s first to offer voting in Shoshone — a language that, traditionally, isn’t written. Under the federal Voting Rights Act, nearly 100 jurisdictions must provide assistance to speakers of traditional Native languages. One of the latest is Nye County, Nevada. Based on Census Bureau data, the county is now required to offer translation of election materials to the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe of the Duckwater Reservation. Shoshone is a language that, traditionally, isn’t written. That means translations will have to be done orally. So far, one tribal elder has agreed to be an interpreter for the county, according to Allison Neswood, an attorney with the Native American Rights Fund, who focuses on language access issues. “Welcoming the Shoshone language, welcoming the Shoshone culture, in our democratic processes is just a really important part of showing our Native communities that they’re an important voice in our democratic process,” Neswood said. Other states in the Mountain West have taken similar steps. Last year, three New Mexico counties added language assistance for Zuni speakers. Idaho did the same for Nez Perce speakers in four counties. This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Copyright 2022 KUNR Public Radio. To see more, visit KUNR Public Radio.
Cornish is spoken by around 600 people in the UK. Although there's only a handful of people who still know it, it's history predates the English language.
European Minority Languages: Meet the radio host trying to keep Cornish alive
The coast at Polperro in Cornwall
The coast at Polperro in Cornwall - Copyright Canva
By Jonny Walfisz • Updated: 15/07/2022 - 16:32
What’s it like to speak a minority language? There are 79 minority languages recognised by The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The charter covers many majority languages spoken in other countries, for example Polish speakers in Ukraine. But it also covers some languages spoken by no more than a few hundred people. In this series, Euronews Culture is going to hear from speakers of European minority languages to learn about their experiences. Cornish
This week, it’s the Cornish language. A member of the Celtic language family, Cornish or Kernewek originates in Cornwall, at the southwestern tip of England. A descendant of Common Brittonic - the language spoken in Britain before Roman rule or Saxon invasion - Cornish pre-dates English as a language of the British Isles. Cornish was most popular between 1200 and 1600 AD, when nearly 40,000 people spoke it. It's also a sister language of Welsh and Breton and shares a lot of the same vocabulary. Canva
Saint Piran's Flag is the flag of Cornwall.Canva
The language almost became extinct in the 19th century, but was revived in the early 20th century. The near extinction of the language is covered in Matthi ab Dewi’s book, ‘Like a Buried City’, which follows a family in the late 18th century who are dealing with the prospect of their language dying out. “It was very much on the brink, in that the last people with traditional knowledge were just dying off as the revival began,” Matthi says. While other minority languages like Welsh are represented by their own country in the UK, Cornwall’s lack of independence means its often been forgotten in language education legislation. “Wales, as it is treated as a separate country from England, comes under separate governments and laws, which means that it has a Welsh Language Act," explains Matthi. "In Cornwall, we are treated as part of England, which means that we don't have any Cornish Language Act, or any separate legislation to mean that we can acces funding to any degree, and support things like education, support for teachers, or support for broadcasting.” According to a survey in 2011, there are around 600 Cornish speakers in the UK today, with 500 of them living in Cornwall. Learning in Cornish
With so few speakers, it was somewhat difficult to find someone to speak to about the language. After reaching out, one person told me that many Cornish speakers were reluctant to be interviewed. “We either get portrayed completely wrongly or have our time wasted and end up on the cutting room floor,” she explained. “There’s been some good articles,” Matthi ab Dewi says. “But very often there’s a jokey aspect to it.” Matthi grew up in Liskeard in Cornwall and he has a familial link to the area through his great grandmother and great aunts. Although he didn’t grow up speaking Cornish, he was driven by an interest in his personal history, and decide to study the language at the City Literary Institute in Holborn, London. Canva
Truro cathedral on the shore in CornwallCanva
While some schools in Cornwall are teaching the language, it’s still uncommon. The Go Cornish programme was created in 2021 to give primary school teachers the resources to start introducing young children to Cornish. Matthi believes the best way to grow the language is for children to be immersed in it. That would mean learning it at school and speaking it at home. Some kids cartoons like Peppa Pig have been translated into Cornish, but often it’s just one or two episodes which isn’t enough to provide an immersive experience. It’s partly why Matthi started his Cornish language radio show. His weekly show is entirely in Cornish with music and interviews. “The idea is that if you are fluent, it's something to have on for an hour,” Matthi explains. “But I say to people to treat it like a normal radio, you don't actually listen to everything on the radio, it's on in the background. So you pick up on things.” Europe’s other song contest: this is Liet International, the ‘Eurovision of minority languages’
Cambridge scholar cites Taylor Swift lyrics as a great way to learn Latin
Growing a Cornish identity
Matthi wants as many people as possible to be able to appreciate and enjoy the language. And while more people are taking an interest, there’s still a shortage of fluent speakers to chat to. “I can bump into people in my local town who speak Cornish, but I think there's still a level of people who aren't confident in their Cornish to be able to suddenly launch into something on any topic,” he says. In Camborne, where Matthi lives, there’s a Cornish language shop that he likes to go to for a cup of tea and a chat. “It's great to be able to take something so old into the modern age, and give it continued life. And when you go around Cornwall, you see all the Cornish language in place names and realise that you can understand what the hell they were talking about when they named the place.” Canva
A map of Cornwall in the south west of EnglandCanva
Matthi has fully embraced his Cornish identity, a strong identity which is separate from the majority English nationality. Born Matthew Clarke, he adopted a Cornish form of his first name while learning the language. He changed his surname to follow the Cornish patronymic tradition after his father died 10 years ago. When asked why people should bother with a language that current estimates suggest only 500 to 600 people actually speak, he’s emphatic of its cultural importance. “If there's one interesting building, which shouldn't be knocked down, you get a big campaign in the paper. Save this building! Put all the money into saving this piece of built heritage,” he says. “But when it's oral heritage, or something which is intangible heritage, people seem to think intangible heritage is unimportant. If it's made out of bricks and stuff that you can drop it on your foot or run into it, then they think we'll save that. "But the oral and the intangible culture is just as important, if not more important, so why not spend the same amount of money on building that up?”
California's movement to save its Indigenous languages began about 30 years ago. My childhood fascination with foreign languages led me to join it.
Students at the U of A have the opportunity to learn the Cherokee language from a native speaker. Author: Kathryn Gilker Published: 5:50 PM CDT July 14, 2022 Updated: 5:50 PM CDT July 14, 2022 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — It’s a language only a few thousand people in the United States know, but the University of Arkansas is hoping to change that by offering students the chance to learn Cherokee. “This is one of the hardest languages to learn, they say. It ranks up there with the Chinese and Japanese language,” said Cherokee language teacher Lawrence Panther. This fall will be the second year that Panther has taught the Cherokee language and syllabary to college students. “It’s a lifelong process to learn this language," he said. "I’m a fluent speaker and I’m still learning. Anybody else that’s a fluent speaker, they are still learning also. There is always room for improvement." Panther also teaches his language at Stillwell High School, but last year was his first time teaching at the college level. He had 15 students take Cherokee One in the fall and nine return for Cherokee Two in the spring. He’s hoping for even more students this fall. “They learned quite a bit from what I saw. I was very impressed with how they learned how to read and write,” he said. Nicole Rikard was one of his students who took Cherokee One and Two this past year and will be taking Cherokee Three this fall. She is getting her Ph.D. in indigenous literature. “It felt like a really great opportunity seeing as the Cherokee Nation is just about 45 minutes or so from where I live, about an hour from the university. Then to be told you can have a native speaker come to the university and be available to you, just seemed like the opportunity of a lifetime,” she said. Panther says it’s essential to keep the Cherokee language alive. "The language, it’s getting very scarce you know and just about 3,000 speakers left you know but there are abundant learners who are learning but it’s obvious they’ll never be at the fluent level,” Panther said. If you are interested in taking Cherokee, the U of A will be offering two Cherokee One courses and one Cherokee Three course this fall.
The Africa Narrative lancera le 16 juillet une campagne de trois semaines, AfroCreatives WikiProject +film. Cette initiative a pour but d’encourager les contributeurs nouveaux et établis de Wikipédia, y compris les créatifs de l’industrie cinématographique, les professionnels et les cinéphiles de chacun de ces pays, à ajouter du contenu lié au cinéma sur Wikipédia. Le même jour, The Africa Narrative organisera quatre sessions de formation en ligne en français, arabe et anglais pour les nouveaux éditeurs de Wikipédia. Les sessions de formation fourniront un savoir-faire d’édition simple et essentiel qui permettra à quiconque de commencer à contribuer à Wikipédia. Le projet AfroCreatives Wikiproject a été développé pour soutenir et mobiliser les personnes des industries culturelles et créatives africaines. Sont aussi concernés les passionnés de culture africaine, afin de contribuer et d’améliorer les connaissances sur Wikipédia sur l’économie créative africaine. Son effort inaugural, lancé ce mois-ci, est centré sur les industries cinématographiques de l’Égypte, du Nigéria, du Rwanda et du Sénégal. Initialement établi comme un projet axé sur la recherche visant à générer une plus grande connaissance publique de l’Afrique, The Africa Narrative se relance en tant qu’organisation à but non lucratif. Sa mission vise à renforcer les capacités de l’économie créative africaine et à amplifier la visibilité mondiale du soft power culturel africain. Enregistrée en tant qu’organisation à but non lucratif exonérée d’impôt aux États-Unis et en Afrique du Sud, TAN sera basée à Johannesburg, dirigée et dotée entièrement par des Africains sur le continent. Le soutien de la Fondation comprend un Wikimédien en résidence dédié au projet AfroCreatives WikiProject. Daniel Damoilola Obiokeke a contribué à Wikipédia anglais et simplifié, Commons et Wikidata au cours des six dernières années. Il a commencé plus de 200 articles sur Wikipédia en anglais et a facilité plusieurs campagnes, concours et éditions de Wikimedia au Nigeria.
Lawyers had been lamenting the lack of court interpreters to help defendants understand the repercussion of the charges that they are facing. Subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest stories and updates. Lack of career prospects and low salary has been attributed to the shortage of court interpreters in the country, especially in Tamil and Chinese language, theSun reported. In fact, prior to the minimum wage of RM1,500 coming into force on May 1, the starting salary for court interpreters is set at a meagre sum of RM658.72. This led to the people with the know-how to choose different career paths with better remuneration packages, lawyer Kokila Vaani Vadiveloo said, adding that there is a major concern now as there is an acute shortage of Chinese and Tamil interpreters in court these days. A court interpreter helps translate questions or remarks during court proceedings into the witness’s or defendant’s language. For the Chinese language, it includes Mandarin or any of the Chinese dialects such as Hakka, Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew or Kheng Chew. While for Tamil, it can be Telugu, Malayalam and Punjabi. According to Kokila, the shortage of interpreters in courts could lead to injustice as the language barriers could interfere with the court’s ability to accurately weigh the facts based on witness testimonies and inflict sentences. She said that there have been instances when defendants who presented themselves before the courts without translation services were unable to protect or enforce their legal rights. This, Kokila added, led to dire consequences to their lives, liberty, family and property interests. She stressed that the legal system must strive to ensure that all defendants understand the charge that they face and the full implication of the charges as well as how a defence can be raised. Former Bar Council president Salim Bashir agrees with Kokila, saying that the problem has been in existence for a long time. He suggested for the government to increase the professionalism in the carer of interpreters by providing adequate training as well as increasing the remuneration for the position in order to attract more people to join the interpreting service.
Le 12 juillet 2022 à 10 h 54 min La conférence internationale ainsi que les colloques regroupent des personnes qui sont venues de différents horizons et qui s’expriment dans différents langages. Donc, pour que chacun puisse adhérer à la conversation, il est nécessaire d’utiliser un système de traduction simultané. D’où la nécessité d’adopter des équipements nécessaires pour permettre aux participants de suivre le déroulement du sujet débattu. Mais quels sont les équipements nécessaires et plus adaptés pour permettre une interprétation simultanée ? Et comment les trouver ? Découvrez tout ce qu’il faut savoir dans cet article. Définition de l’interprétation simultanée Une interprétation simultanée représente le type d’usage des langages qui sont complexes. Une interprète utilise des matériels spécialisés sans fil et travaille à l’intérieur d’une cabine calme et insonore, communément appelée cabine pour interprétation simultanée. Tout ce qu’il faut savoir sur les matériels d’interprétation simultanée Actuellement, la plupart des conférences suivent le mode à interprétation simultanée, d’ailleurs les producteurs de ces équipements sont de plus en plus nombreux. Il est important de bien choisir les équipements pour interprétation simultanée en bonne qualité et de faire attention au bon marché. La meilleure option est de chercher auprès des sociétés spécialisées pour ce domaine, mais non pas auprès d’une entreprise vidéaste ou audiovisuelle. En général, les agences de traduction et d’interprétation disposent des équipements qui lui sont propres, sinon elles ont une relation professionnelle avec d’autres entreprises spécialisées. Pour débuter sur les équipements d’interprétations simultanés, il existe notamment sept choses à savoir. Ceux-ci se composent de trois sortes de configurations possibles et quatre équipements qui se trouvent à l’intérieur de la cabine d’interprétation simultanée : Installation permanente C’est un système pour l’interprétation simultanée qui est intégré constamment dans l’installation lors d’une conférence. Les interprètes travaillent dans des cabines avec quelques portes. La configuration est plus pratique et confortable, mais elle est presque immobile. Configuration portable Les hôtels et quelques endroits ne disposent pas d’une installation permanente. Donc, des cabines mobiles ou portables sont à amener et à installer avant de commencer la conférence. Chaque cabine doit contenir au moins deux interprètes par langue. Pour les grandes conférences, elles sont au nombre de 3 par langue et par cabine. Une cabine portable a la même configuration qu’une cabine fixe, comme la ventilation ainsi que l’éclairage. Équipement de chuchotement C’est un ensemble mobile qui est composé de récepteurs sans fil et d’un émetteur sans fil portable. Il est intéressant pour les participants qui se déplacent beaucoup, mais n’est pas fait pour des conférences standard. Console d’interprétation Il s’agit d’un boîtier électronique qui a une connexion audio avec un microphone et un casque. Si beaucoup d’interprètes sont embauchés, il doit aussi disposer de micros et des casques. Une console a quelque commutateur qui permet de changer les langues, désactiver le microphone ainsi que faire un réglage de volume, les graves/aigus du casque. Casque interprète Les interprètes doivent avoir leur casque qui est fourni par les techniciens. Mais, ils peuvent également utiliser leurs propres casques qui sont spécialement créés pour une interprétation simultanée. Le casque à utiliser doit être binaural, dont celui qui interprète doit entendre le discours original avec ses deux oreilles. Microphone d’interprète Il peut être fixé avec le casque disposant d’un bras qui est flexible en col d’un cygne. Il est plus pratique et une meilleure option car en bougeant la tête, l’espacement entre le microphone de conférence et la bouche de son utilisateur ne change pas. Il existe aussi l’option où le micro est intégré avec une console. C’est moins pratique, cependant très légitime. Le haut de la surface d’une console dispose d’un connecteur pour microphone dédié. La troisième option c’est le micro de table qui est autonome. Il s’agit d’un système le moins pratique. Un microphone en mode séparé est installé au pupitre et rassemblé par câble sur la console. Il y a un danger si l’interprète se déplace pour prendre l’air, par exemple, alors qu’il est allumé. Le son résultant peut être désagréable pour les représentants. Récepteur pour délégués qui est sans fil Le son audio venant des intervenants se transmet dans le casque de l’interprète. Une interprétation simultanée est transmise sur un émetteur qui est sans fil dans les casques des délégués. Dsptech : une meilleure solution pour l’équipement d’interprétation simultanée C’est l’un des meilleurs fournisseurs professionnels qui se spécialise dans le commerce de matériel d’interprétation simultanée. Il est destiné à un conférencier, un guide touristique ainsi qu’une salle privée comme l’église. Vous pouvez louer et acheter des matériels comme les kits d’interprètes portables en toute confiance, et ce, à un prix compétitif et selon votre budget. Il peut aussi vous conseiller et proposer des solutions pour votre événement.
TEHRAN (IQNA) – Translator and author Behrouz Foroutan says his six-volume book which offers a fluent translation of the Holy Quran in English has been published in Lebanon.
Titled “The Quran; A New English Translation and Commentary”, the book has been translated and penned by Foroutan, a teacher at Islamic seminaries, and revised by Seyyed Hossein Marashi, a university and seminary lecturer. The six-volume book has been published by Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi in Lebanon. In an interview with IQNA, Iranian scholar Foroutan said that the work contains an accurate yet eloquent translation of the Quran in the English language. Other than the translation, he maintained, an exegesis has been provided for each verse which provides readers with brief, beneficial information that helps them better understand the concepts of verses. “This work is suitable for those who are after understanding the meaning and [reading] a simple exegesis of the Quran in English,” Foroutan said. The most valid works of Tafseer have been used for providing complimentary commentary for each verse, he stressed. He pointed to the need for establishing an interactive mechanism to contact people across the world who are more than keen on receiving religious knowledge. Foroutan referred to verse 90 of Surah Al-An’am which reads “We had guided the Prophets. (Muhammad), follow their guidance and say (to the people), “I do not ask any reward for what I have preached to you. It is my duty to awaken the world,” noting that the new translation seeks to achieve this aim. The book aims to introduce Quranic concepts to readers using simple language, he said, hoping that such works could promote Quranic thinking in society. Asked why he embarked on translating the Quran given that there were several English translations available, Foroutan acknowledged that there are suitable translations of the Holy Book in English “but they lack two features of fluidness and accuracy and are often hard to understand for the public.”
Furthermore, the aim of translators has not been simplifying the process of understanding the Quran for the young generation according to international conditions, he said, noting that the sole act of translation cannot help English readers much as it will raise questions in their minds. “In the commentary part, we have answered the possible questions,” he said. The Quran has always enjoyed a great potential for attracting those who are interested in truth, however, people’s lack of familiarity with the Arabic language combined with the high level of Quranic concepts has led to the establishment of a poor relationship between non-Muslims and the Quran, he said. “Recognizing this problem and understanding international circumstances, we started an extensive scientific work on explaining Quranic teachings,” Foroutan said, adding that the work has been completed with the help of some English-speaking lecturers and authors. 4067552
Massive online collaboration is revolutionizing the way content is translated and consumed worldwide. This will also have a significant impact on how we translate content. In this article, I discuss what may be some of these effects, and invite the writing community as a whole. Open writing can lead to new and better solutions to old problems. In particular, it can lead to the improvement of terminology (TD) and writing (TM) databases. TDs and TMs are the two technological pillars of modern writing. Together, they have brought significant achievements in translator productivity, enabling more consistent writing of large documents by teams. In a sense, collaborative technologies act as reservoirs of collective expertise. But it does not act massively at any stage of imagination, because the number of people who can contribute content to them is very limited. For example, although a database of public terms can be browsed by thousands of people around the world, its contents can only be edited by a very small number of expert terminologist people at the Canada Writing Bureau. Furthermore, while TM may be consulted by hundreds of translators (in the case of a large organization), the ability to add content to its database tends to be limited to a much smaller group of experts. On the one hand, we will have very large communities of terminologists and translators sharing content in very large open resources. For example, the essay writing industry. These resources will in fact form a solid and solid backbone but open and free from which everyone can benefit. On the other hand, we will have a large number of organizations, each translating in specific areas and for specific purposes, as well as with specific workflows and operating platforms. This is where proprietary tool vendors will be able to operate, by providing tools to such organizations that are perfectly suited to their needs and will be able to work and perform their work smoothly and optimally across the workflow of the organization. To this I will add that, tool providers may also be able to sell services and support to help organizations deploy such tools efficiently. These tools are proprietary however will need to link with larger open “MOC” resources in case they are interested in providing optimum value to users and organizations. For example, if a particular term or phrase is not found in a local resource, the system may look at the larger but more generic open resource In short, open and massive TDs and TMs are likely to play an important role in the writing industry in the coming years. While it may seem naive to think that quality linguistic resources can be reached high through such a process, it should be remembered that only five years before that, the idea of Wikipedia also sounded very naive to most people. However, we now have proof by construction that it can work.
“You might be a copy editor looking for a deeper history of a sensitive word; a writer rethinking who your beat is serving; or a manager trying to make a tough call on deadline. The challenge is the same: Language is ever-evolving, and the words we choose to use can have lasting, consequential outcomes.” News stories require hundreds of decisions about language, framing, and terminology as they’re reported, written, edited, and packaged. Choose incorrectly and a newsroom risks getting the story wrong, alienating readers and sources, and a reception that dwells on word choice rather than any of the story’s reporting. “Language, Please,” a new resource from Vox Media, thinks it can help. Using funding from Google News Initiative, the project brought together a long list of news leaders to write a style guide with more than 275 entries — including ones for “crisis pregnancy center,” “opportunity gap,” and “DREAMer” — containing detailed definitions, notes on usage, and additional resources. (Vox did not disclose the Google grant’s exact amount.) From the site’s mission statement: You might be a copy editor looking for a deeper history of a sensitive word; a writer rethinking who your beat is serving; or a manager trying to make a tough call on deadline. The challenge is the same: Language is ever-evolving, and the words we choose to use can have lasting, consequential outcomes. At a time of changing standards, our aim is to provide the greater context of these debates, dig into some history you might not have known about a term, connect related terms, and inform thoughtful decision-making. The site also features an interactive edit test, tips for improving diversity in news coverage, and a directory of inclusivity readers. (Vox does not vet the readers.) “Our goal was really inspired by two interconnected ideas,” said Christopher Clermont, Vox Media’s head of diversity, equity, and inclusion. “One was that we wanted to build a tool that could help newsrooms better cover social, cultural, and identity-related topics. The other was to fulfill a major human resource need of not relying on marginalized individuals in our newsrooms for this work.” Clermont said in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, journalists were individually reaching out for help to improve their stories and double check their phrasing. It was encouraging, Clermont noted, but also completely unsustainable in the long term. “When news breaks, newsrooms are left trying to scramble and figure out how to create standards around complex sensitive topics,” he said. “That was really the premise around ‘Language, Please’ — a free, living resource for journalists and storytellers who are seeking to thoughtfully cover these stories.” The creators of “Language, Please” emphasized the living aspect of the guidance in interviews. They noted “Language, Please” will continue to evolve and that their advisory board members (who are paid a stipend) committed to updating the guidance to reflect changing standards and thoughtful debates for the next year. You can see some of the work in progress; entries like “opioid epidemic,” “disfigurement,” and the bone growth disorder “achondroplasia” are still “coming soon.” Tanya Pai, the style and standards editor at Vox, helped steer the project’s editorial elements. She said they started with newsroom research, putting out a call for questions about language and asking journalists and editors what they wanted to know. “Some folks said, ‘I just want to know the ‘right’ word to use’ and then some people really wanted to understand the nuance of these debates. They wanted the bigger context. Why is this terminology changing?” Pai said. “When we started pulling together this guidance, we really wanted to lean into the why of it. We don’t just want to say, here’s the rule. There’s so much nuance in it, and we really wanted to create a resource that would get into that context and give people the tools they need to make the decisions for themselves and their newsrooms and their audiences.” Unlike, say, some AP Style Book entries, “Language, Please” has structured their entries so that the takeaways come later in the page — after the larger context and history — and includes links to outside reading for deeper dives. Several entries recommend certain phrasing but still point out that there’s no universally-accepted answer. In fact, much of the advice and guidance in “Language, Please” comes down to this: Be thoughtful. Challenge received wisdom and wording. Ask people about their preferences. “We really focused on trying to write this in a way that leaves space for those debates,” Pai said. “The debate over Latinx, for instance — a lot of newsrooms will use that right now, but it does not necessarily resonate with everyone that it’s supposed to describe. We wanted to make that clear. Maybe it’s your style is to use Latinx, but there’s not going to be 100% agreement on it.” How about a couple of excerpts to give you a sense for the guidance? In the “Me Too / #MeToo” entry: While it can be commonplace in everyday conversation for people to use the term as a verb or in passive voice (e.g. “Person X was MeToo’ed,” “Person Y Shelly MeToo’ed Mr./Mrs. Person X”), this kind of phrasing leaves out context and specifics. The passive construction can also be read as positioning the abuser as the victim. Look up “pronouns” and find this tip: Saying someone “uses she/they pronouns” (vs. “prefers she/they pronouns”) affirms that a person’s pronouns and gender identity are not a choice but a deeply felt part of their identity. Under an entry about “sufferers,” the guidance cautions against knee-jerk commiserations while interviewing a source living with an illness or disability: It might feel normal to say “I’m sorry to hear that” when a person discloses a disability or illness. However, such a reaction may carry an assumption about how “bad” their current experience is. Use your judgment: If a person describes themselves or their experiences in neutral terms (“I have a chronic illness,” “I’ve had a disability for a few years”), it may not be appropriate to express sympathy. The rest of “Language, Please” is available here.
CHICAGO (PRWEB) July 13, 2022 -- First cohort of students have completed practice program shadowing professional interpreters, while graduates participate in dummy booths set up for real events. First cohort of students have completed practice program shadowing professional interpreters, while graduates participate in dummy booths set up for real events. Interprenet and London Metropolitan University Celebrate New Partnership We see a growing demand for remote simultaneous interpretation (RSI) and are thrilled to equip aspiring interpreters with the skills essential to a smooth, high-quality RSI experience. CHICAGO (PRWEB) JULY 13, 2022 Interprenet, a leading global language service provider, is pleased to announce that the first cohort of students from London Metropolitan University’s (LMU) Conference Interpretation program have completed a practice program that allows them to shadow professional interpreters during live events. As part of a partnership between Interprenet and LMU, the shadowing component kicked off in September of 2021 to sharpen the interpreter’s listening skills and their ability to recognize different accents. The first cohort of students to successfully complete the shadowing program will now be able to move on to practice interpreting using dummy booths at real events. This component of the program allows them not only to hone their skills using Interprefy’s state-of-the-art interpreting platform, but also to prepare for unexpected situations that arise during live events. Target languages in which students practice include Arabic, Mandarin, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. Twelve students in the class of 2021-2022 already completed the live practice interpreting program using dummy booths. Acquiring real-life skills essential to a smooth, high-quality RSI experience
“We are delighted to see our partnership with LMU thrive and congratulate the first cohort of students who represent the next generation of world-class language interpreters,” said David Medrano, CEO of Interprenet. “We see a growing demand for remote simultaneous interpretation (RSI) and are thrilled to equip aspiring interpreters with the skills essential to a smooth, high-quality RSI experience.” The London Metropolitan University’s master’s courses in Interpreting and Conference Interpreting are among the top postgraduate programs in the world preparing students to work as professional conference interpreters for international organizations and the private market. “This new scheme offers a two-way dialogue between academia and employers that continuously informs the curriculum. Students can then safely apply their newly acquired know-how to real life assignments. This form of experiential learning makes all the difference to professional growth,” said Danielle D’Hayer, Associate Professor at London Metropolitan University and course leader for the Interpreting MA and Conference Interpreting MA. “When I started recruiting interpreters for RSI back in 2018, all roads led to London, where we currently have more than 100 interpreters,” said Carolina Herrera, Global Services Director at Interprenet. “Many had been through London Met’s interpretation program, so we thought giving the students a chance to experience the challenge of real-life events would put them in a great position to find work upon graduation.” Independent market research firm CSA Research estimates that the remote interpreting market is growing 14% compared to pre-pandemic levels. As the world of simultaneous interpreting continues to shift to remote interpreting, it is critical for aspiring interpreters to master the use of modern RSI technology and rise above the challenges of real events. The partnership between Interprenet and LMU is a key component in training interpreting students to graduate with the necessary skills to transition smoothly to the workplace. Supporting Resources About Interprenet Interprenet is a global language service provider committed to connecting the world with a distinct blend of human and tech-forward solutions powered by expert client-centric consultation since 2003. By harnessing the power of cutting-edge technology, Interprenet leverages its expertise to offer a range of customizable solutions in the three core categories of interpretation, captions, and translation, available to audiences of all sizes, onsite or remote, in any language and on any device. With a superior global network of technically gifted and experienced interpreters and linguists, corporations, governments, NGOs, and institutions worldwide trust us to deliver high-quality, accurate language solutions for thousands of events, meetings, and translation projects each year, whether live or recorded. At Interprenet, our three core values, accuracy, creativity, and trust, drive everything we do. To date, we have provided multilingual language solutions to more than 125,000 events worldwide. To learn more, visit interprenet.net and follow us on LinkedIn.
NLLB-200 exceeds the previous state of the art by an average of 44 percent. Listen to this story What if you didn’t need English to translate? Meta’s new and improved open source AI model ‘NLLB-200’ is capable of translating 200 languages without English! “Communicating across languages is one superpower that AI provides, but as we keep advancing our AI work it’s improving everything we do—from showing the most interesting content on Facebook and Instagram, to recommending more relevant ads, to keeping our services safe for everyone”, says Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Meta. Accessibility through language ensures that the benefits of the advancement of technology reach everyone, no matter what language they may speak. Tech companies are assuming a proactive role in attempting to bridge this gap. For instance, machine translation is an area of AI research that Meta focuses on. Following the announcement that it is building its ‘universal speech translator’, Meta unveiled their open-source AI model—‘No Language Left Behind’ (NLLB-200) capable of providing high-quality translations across 200 different languages, validated through extensive evaluations. The tech giant has also built a dataset, ‘FLORES-200’, to assess NLLB-200’s performance and demonstrate that high-quality translations are provided. In terms of quality, Meta claims that NLLB-200 provides an average of 44 per cent better translations than its previous model. This model was trained using Meta’s new AI supercomputer, Research SuperCluster. In a demonstration of its reach, Meta states that some languages that NLLB-200 translates, such as Kamba and Lao, are not supported by any translation tools in use currently. NLLB-200 supports 55 African languages with high-quality results, adds Meta. Comparison with other models Currently, Meta is actively involved in machine translation. In 2018, it open sourced the Language-Agnostic SEntence Representations (LASER) toolkit, which accommodates 90 languages written in 28 different alphabets. In 2020, Meta unveiled a host of models in machine translation. M2M-100 was a milestone M2M-100, Meta’s first multilingual machine translation (MMT) model that translated between any two languages out of 100 languages without employing English as an intermediary and was also open sourced. According to Meta, the MMT model is trained on a total of 2,200 language directions—ten times more than its English-centric multilingual models. This initiative improves the quality of translations for speakers of low-resource languages and, thereby, their accessibility to information and other content. FLORES-101 was an earlier initiative by Meta on translating low-resource languages. It is a many-to-many evaluation data set that accommodates 101 languages globally. FLORES-101 focuses on low-resource languages, such as Amharic, Mongolian and Urdu, that lack datasets for broader NLP research. Image source: Meta Meta claimed that researchers could measure the quality of translations reliably through 10,100 different translation directions within FLORES-101. Google Translate Google Translate has been in existence since 2006. Initially, it started with 2 languages, and is now able to accommodate 133 different languages. In fact, Google added 24 more languages to Translate recently. In the paper titled, “Building machine translation systems for the next thousand languages”, researchers described that they built high-quality monolingual datasets for over 1,000 languages that do not have translation datasets available and demonstrated how monolingual data alone could be used to train MT models. For these newly added languages, Google created monolingual datasets by developing and using specialised neural language identification models combined with novel filtering approaches. Google also revealed that adding these new languages is a technical milestone for the company. These are the first languages added using Zero-Shot Machine Translation—where a machine learning model only sees monolingual text. In March of 2021, Google Translate on Android hit one billion downloads from the Google Play Store. Microsoft Translator Microsoft has always been a forerunner in terms of new and upcoming tech. Machine Translation systems were first developed by Microsoft research two decades back. Back then, the system could translate the entire Microsoft Knowledge Base from English to Spanish, French, German and Japanese. This translated version was then published, “making it the largest public-facing application of raw machine translation on the internet at the time”, claims Microsoft. Currently, Microsoft Translator supports 103 languages. Image source: Microsoft With the advancement in AI research, the tech mammoth adopted neural machine translation (NMT) technology and migrated machine translation systems to neural models based on transformer technology. Later, by using multilingual transformer architecture, the company could augment training data with material from other languages—often in the same or a related language family—to produce models for languages with small amounts of data or, as we understand it, low-resource languages. Amazon Translate Amazon Translate is a neural machine translation service as well. In 2019, it added support for 22 new languages—increasing the number of languages accommodated to 54 languages and dialects. In 2020, it added 16 more languages and the number of languages it is able to support is now up to 71 languages and variants, along with support for 4,970 translation combinations. I am a technology journalist at AIM. What gets me excited is deep-diving into new-age technologies and analysing how they impact us for the greater good. Reach me at sreejani.bhattacharyya@analyticsindiamag.com
Alors que de nombreuses langues sont présentes dans The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, un seul livre indique que le français existe dans la tradition de Tamriel. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim expose souvent ses joueurs au langage des dragons à travers des cris et les événements de la quête principale, mais le jeu comprend une langue canonique étrangère – le français. Tamriel est un monde aux traditions apparemment illimitées qui présente souvent aux joueurs des découvertes inattendues, des blagues subtiles déguisées en rencontres normales, ou même de sombres Bordeciel secrets cachés dans des villes apparemment inutiles. Plus intéressants, peut-être, sont les moments où l’histoire du jeu ou la construction du monde entrent en collision avec le monde réel. Le langage dans les mondes fantastiques est un sujet curieux qui présente une poignée de problèmes. Quand tu t’assois pour jouer Bordeciel, les personnages semblent parler principalement l’anglais ou la langue dans laquelle vous avez défini les paramètres de localisation du jeu. Bien sûr, il s’agit d’une incohérence non reconnue – l’Angleterre n’existe pas sur Nirn, et les personnages sont censés parler le tamriel, également connu sous le nom de langue commune, la langue de l’empire cyrodilique. Bien sûr, aucun joueur ne parle le tamriel, donc cet hébergement invisible est nécessaire pour que quiconque puisse découvrir le jeu. Le résultat est une sorte de paradigme de traduction – la “langue commune” est supposée être ce que le joueur parle (ou choisit), tandis que les langues d’autres pays ou peuples n’ont pas besoin d’être comprises par le joueur. Faire correspondre les connaissances du joueur à celles de son Dragonborn fait en fin de compte Bordeciel se sentent plus réels, même si cette astuce courante dans la fiction est rarement interrogée et potentiellement involontaire. Les langues autres que l’anglais sont nombreuses dans Bordeciel – non seulement les langues des Daedra et des dragons sont présentes, mais des langues banales comme l’Orcish ou le Bretic peuvent également être trouvées. Ceux-ci sont tous parsemés dans les dialogues et les livres, et – dans le cas du langage du dragon – les cris et les murs de mots du jeu. Ces autres langues sont toutes fictives, sauf une, car un livre peut être trouvé avec plusieurs mots français. La gastronomie de Tamriel remet en question les langues de Skyrim Le Gourmet est une sorte de célébrité dans certains cercles, connu pour son talent de cuisinier et son goût raffiné. Son livre “Uncommon Taste” présente une recette de Potage le Magnifique – traduit du français, “la soupe magnifique”. Une recette apparemment simple, le Gourmet assure à ses lecteurs que si la soupe est en effet magnifique, il faut l’imagination d’un chef vraiment talentueux pour élever le plat à la magie. Un peu comme Bordeciel‘s sweetroll aux œufs de Pâques, la simple existence de ce Potage le Magnifique soulève quelques questions supplémentaires. Le nom de la soupe n’est probablement pas censé être français dans la fiction du jeu – encore une fois, la France n’existe pas sur Nirn. Au lieu de cela, il peut servir de substitut à une langue issue d’une culture perçue comme plus raffinée que celle des Nords de Skyrim. Une telle culture ou langue n’est pas explicitement nommée dans Bordeciel, et le français sert probablement de raccourci pour relier la fiction du jeu aux connaissances du joueur. Bien sûr, même si Tamrielic correspond parfaitement à l’anglais, de nombreux mots de la langue anglaise sont tirés directement du français – y compris le mot “gourmet” lui-même. En fin de compte, il peut s’agir d’un surexamen de la langue dans Bordeciel, mais décomposer ces éléments peut être important pour comprendre les mondes fantastiques, y compris l’emplacement du prochain Elder Scrolls 6. Examiner la construction du langage et d’autres éléments de la culture – à la fois les explications à l’intérieur et à l’extérieur de la fiction – peut être un excellent moyen de s’engager avec un média à un niveau plus profond. JRR Tolkien, par exemple, a souvent abordé son écriture en tant que linguiste, et le monde de la Terre du Milieu est d’autant plus étoffé pour ses efforts. Les développeurs qui ont fait Bordeciel ont peut-être utilisé différentes méthodes, mais ils ont certainement créé un monde complexe et crédible – même si un peu de français se retrouve occasionnellement dans le jeu.
Lancement acté pour BLOOM. Issu d'une démarche scientifique ouverte, ce modèle de langage multilingue a de multiples attaches en France. BLOOM : les choses à savoir sur ce « méga-modèle » d’IA au sang français Lancement acté pour BLOOM. Issu d’une démarche scientifique ouverte, ce modèle de langage multilingue a de multiples attaches en France. Quel modèle de traitement du langage naturel entraîner quand on dispose d’un million d’heures GPU ? Le projet BigScience s’est trouvé face à cette question. Sa réponse s’incarne dans BLOOM. Les premiers jalons du projet BigScience avaient été posés au printemps 2021. À la baguette, Hugging Face. Cette entreprise, que trois Français ont fondée à New York, est à l’origine d’une plate-forme de data science / machine learning. L’objectif : entraîner, sur un modèle de science ouverte et participative, « le plus grand modèle de langue multilingue et open source ». Au final, un millier de scientifiques se sont impliqués, représentant 72 pays et des sociétés comme Airbus, Meta AI, Mozilla, Orange Labs ou Ubisoft. La France a apporté un soutien dans le cadre de sa stratégie nationale pour l’IA. 3 millions d’euros pour un cycle d’entraînement La phase d’entraînement s’est étalée sur 117 jours, entre mars et juillet 2022… sur le supercalculateur Jean Zay, localisé à Saclay (Essonne). Avec un environnement à 416 GPU NVIDIA A100 80 Go répartis sur une cinquantaine de nœuds AMD. La dotation en ressources de calcul – subvention CNRS + GENCI estimée à environ 3 millions d’euros – a permis de réaliser un peu plus d’un cycle. À la base, il y a un fork de Megatron-DeepSpeed, qui lui-même dérive de Megatron-LM (modèle de langage made in NVIDIA à 345 millions de paramètres, architecturé sur le modèle de GPT-2 et entraîné sur Wikipédia, OpenWebText et CC-Stories). À l’arrivée, il y a BLOOM (BigScience Large Open-science Open-access Multilingual Language Model), ses 70 couches de neurones, ses 112 têtes d’attention et ses 176 milliards de paramètres. Par rapport à la référence GPT-3, il est entraîné sur un corpus plus varié : moins d’anglais, mais 45 autres langues. Ainsi que 13 langages de programmation (13 % du dataset) : C, C#, C++, Go, Java, JavaScript, Lua, PHP, Python, Rust, Scala et TypeScript. Au total, environ 1,6 To de données prétraitées, regroupées en 350 milliards de tokens.
BLOOM : un modèle « inclusif » ? Cette diversité était – et reste – au cœur de la démarche de BigScience. L’IA « responsable » aussi. Cela se reflète dans la licence de BLOOM. Globalement permissive, mais qui pose des limites sur l’usage du modèle. Elle interdit notamment de s’en servir dans le cadre de l’aide médicale. De manière générale, BLOOM n’est pas conçu pour accompagner des décisions critiques (création de contenu factuel, scoring, résumé « fiable »…). Principal usage de BLOOM : générer du texte (complétion d’énoncés). On pourra aussi le spécialiser pour d’autres tâches liées au traitement du langage. En l’état, l’exécution du modèle en inférence nécessite encore des ressources importantes. Il est prévu d’en réduire le poids tout en ouvrant une API connectée à Google Cloud. Illustration principale © pro motion pic - Fotolia
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Curated by Charles Tiayon
Translator,
Lecturer and Consultant in Translation, Terminology, Lexicography and Intercultural Issues
Founder and CEO, METAGLOSSIA
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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | "The First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East Africa Community Affairs, Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga disclosed that the Government of Uganda is to make the Kiswahili language a compulsory and examinable subject in primary and secondary schools.
Kadaga made the remarks while addressing journalists at the EAC Affairs Ministry, located at the Kingdom building in Kampala on Wednesday. The joint Press Conference brought together representatives from the Ministries of Gender, Labor and Social Development, Defence and Veteran Affairs, Education and Sports and top leadership from the EAC Secretariat.
“Kiswahili has been recognized by the Ugandan Cabinet as an official language and is widely spoken in the EAC bloc and beyond. Being an indigenous African language, Uganda must adopt its usage widely by making the language a compulsory and examinable subject in both primary and secondary schools,” she said.
She called upon the media to popularize the Kiswahili language more than other foreign languages because Kiswahili has its origin in Africa, where Africans have to be proud of speaking the language. She added that Kiswahili plays a pivotal role in accelerating regional trade in the EAC bloc as the mode of communication among traders and their customers."
#metaglossia_mundus