Two weeks ago, we participated in the 7th Federcentri Conference in Rome. Mirko Silvestrini and Cesare Zanni brought together several organizations that work within Italy’s language industry: Associazione Italiana Traduttori e Interpreti (AITI), Associazione nazionale italiana traduttori e interpreti (ANITI), Associazione Nazionale Interpreti di Conferenza Professionisti (Assointerpreti), L10N Team, and others. Luigi Muzii of L10N Team summarized the event’s diverse attendees with the line of a famous Italian comedian: “One Italian makes a Latin lover, two together can never agree, whilst three Italians make up four political parties.” Read the rest of this entry »

General elections are fast approaching in the United States. There are plenty of implications for the language services industry who operate or do business in Uncle Sam’s backyard, which — unlike most countries throughout the world — claims no official language. Section 203 of the federal Voting Rights Act requires that bilingual ballots, bilingual voter registration forms, interpreters, and other language assistance programs be provided for languages that are spoken by 5% or more of the population. The law protects the integrity of the elections process and prevents against disenfranchising individuals with limited English proficiency. That act reflected the broad attention brought to minority rights by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. Read the rest of this entry »

While campaigning in South Carolina this April, Hillary Clinton commented, “I think America is ready for a multilingual president.” We would applaud this statement, except for one key fact.  It comes just a couple of centuries too late. After all, multilingualism among U.S. commanders-in-chief is a time-honored American tradition. Read the rest of this entry »