A few months ago, during a talk at Google, I shared the idea that translators are the new blacksmiths. Here are six reasons why:

• The translation profession is shifting from craft to science. It took three thousand years for humans to learn the science of converting metals...

As America gets ready to celebrate Valentine's Day, here's a bit of trivia from elsewhere in the world. In many parts of Latin America, Valentine's Day is not just for people who are in love. It's known as the "Día del Amor y la Amistad" -- the Day of Love...

Click here to read an original op-ed from the TED speaker who inspired this post and watch the TEDTalk below.

When I first saw Deb Roy's TEDTalk, "The Birth of a Word," I was struck by the power of data-rich research to reveal important...

The United States will soon face immigration reform, as President Obama highlighted in his inaugural address this week. Which parts of the language industry stand to benefit from comprehensive reform, and who will have an advantage?

Common Sense Advisory conducted a large-scale study of federal government spending on...

President Obama has pledged to make immigration reform one of his top legislative priorities in 2013. He highlighted this commitment again in his inaugural address on Monday. Republicans are also reevaluating their stance on immigration. Here are seven frequently overlooked ways that immigration contributes to life in the...

Baseball interpreters have been in the news a lot recently, due to the decision to allow interpreters to approach the pitching mound during games. I recently caught up with Kenji Nimura, an experienced professional interpreter for Japanese, Spanish, and English for players in the Major League. Nimura was...

Landing a book contract with a major publisher, Penguin, was a dream come true, and I thought I knew what awaited me. Prior to that wonderful day, I spent many years acquiring knowledge about the publishing process, mostly by reading books, articles, and blogs. Even so, there were quite a...

Last week, Google announced the hiring of Ray Kurzweil, who will work to solve complex language processing problems, among other things. In an interview last year, Kurzweil pointed out that language processing issues are among the most difficult problems to solve. Kurzweil will join the same...

I can't even count the number of times I have walked into the office of an international marketing department or a translation company to find a copy of Terri Morrison's book, Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands sitting on an executive's bookshelf. It's a classic guide for global business...

As the presidential elections draw near, Obama and Romney are paying closer attention than ever to the language they use to make their cases. Every word they state can have an impact on potential voters. Unfortunately, both candidates are likely to miss out on countless votes precisely because of a...

A cup of rice with chicken, ginger, onion, shallots, and chili peppers. A fried patty made of potatoes, peas, and spices, topped with tomatoes and vegetarian mayonnaise. Grilled chicken in pita bread with lettuce, tomato, onion, and tahini sauce. English muffins topped with refried beans, white cheese, and salsa. Breaded...

To most people, the process of translation sounds easy. Just take a phrase and one language and convert it into another, just like online translation tools do, right?

If only it were so simple! The reality is that even the translation of a single word can be a minefield,...

Each year on Sept. 30, a holiday is observed by people all around the world that has been celebrated since 1953. It's a feast day that was originally designated for a patron saint (Saint Jerome), but it has grown to transcend all barriers of religion or geography. This year, I...

Can translation shape a presidency? As I argue in a new book, Found in Translation, it can influence the world as we know it. So, it shouldn't be difficult to believe that translation affects the oval office in more ways than most people realize. Likewise, the commander-in-chief has...

As fuel prices drop in the United States and temperatures keep going up, many Americans are hopping into their cars and pulling out their maps, smartphones, tablets, or GPS devices to get on the road. Where should they travel? Elizabeth Little, author of the newly released Trip of...

Translation has an impact on virtually every aspect of society, politics, and economics, but how much of what you know about translation is really true? You might be surprised to learn that translation is a highly diverse and complex market -- and one that's bigger than you might think. Here...

What's it like to have your own work translated if you're an author who is also a translator? This was a question recently faced by David Bellos, the author of Is That a Fish in Your Ear?, whose book was just published in French with the title,

"Five minutes of looking at these photos has done more to make me appreciate languages than anything I've ever seen or heard before," he said, after gazing upon a set of endangered scripts painstakingly carved into slabs of gleaming Vermont curly maple. The boards are part of an exhibition called...

It's that time of year again -- time to focus on the good deeds and charitable giving initiatives of the language services industry. How did translation and interpreting companies give back and pay it forward over the past twelve months? Let us count the ways:

Helping disseminate linguistic and cultural...

Admit it. At one point or another, the words "Learn a new language," have appeared on your list of New Year's Resolutions. Like most resolutions made with the best of intentions, this one frequently fizzles out well before the year comes to an end. But speaking multiple languages is not...