GALA Blog

Can you and your network of multilingual Facebook friends translate these fun phrases?

Folio Online invites you to celebrate International Translation Day on 30 September 2010 and stand a chance to win a gift voucher valued at R500.00 (approximately 70.00 USD) from Kalahari.net, an online retailer that ships worldwide! Select your prize from a fabulous range of merchandise – books, music, DVD, games and much, much more! Anyone can enter. You don’t have to be a professional translator to qualify.

Here’s how it works:

Below are four phrases, each in a different language. The challenge is to use online translation tools, your multilingual friends on Facebook, dictionaries, or whatever means necessary to translate the phrases into English. Send your entries to Paul Roberts at admin@folio-online.co.za by 17:00 (GMT+2) on Wednesday, 13 October 2010. Entries containing four successfully translated phrases will go into a draw for the gift voucher.

We’ll also post some interesting translation attempts on our Facebook page. Don’t worry — we won’t reveal the identities of those responsible!

Here are the phrases:

1. Sesotho: Motsheha lefuma o a ipiletsa.

2. Portuguese: Uma mão lava a outra.

3. German: Geh hin, wo der Pfeffer wächst!

4. Swahili: Kidole kimoja hakimuui chawa.

HINT: Need a bit of help? We have audio confirmation on one of the phrases. Visit our voice-over list through the following link:

http://www.folio-online.co.za/voicelist.htm. The confirmation will be among the voice-over languages that we offer.

Please include your name and contact information when you e-mail us. We’ll contact the winner in the last week of October. The correct translations will also be posted on our Facebook page by then. This competition is not open to employees of Folio or their immediate family members. We will not use your contact information for any marketing purposes.

We hope that you enjoy translating the phrases. Keep Folio Online in mind if you ever need reliable, professional translation work. Visit www.folio-online.co.za or give us a call at +27 (0)21 426 2727.

About Folio

Located in Cape Town, South Africa, Folio Translation Consultants was established in 1988. A new division, Folio Online, was created in 2000 in order to serve international clients via the Internet. The Folio Group is a global leader in the provision of African language services and we also manage a significant volume of work in European and Asian languages. Our in-house project managers deal with a sizeable network of vetted independent translators, interpreters, voice-over artists, copywriters, editors, proofreaders and transcribers, rendering Folio the largest translation & language services consultancy in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Inttranews announces the launch of Inttracom (www.inttracom.net), an exclusive, global network of Language Service Providers with ISO 9001 or equivalent quality certification.

The main objectives of Inttracom are to:

i) highlight the quality of the language services offered by network members,
ii) generate business for network members, as partners, co-contractors and sub-contractors,
iii) serve as the primary source of business information for the language industry worldwide, and
iv) enable certified LSPs to leverage the competitive advantage they offer,
v) provide a complete range of services designed and developed specifically for certified LSPs,
vi) provide customers worldwide with access to network members’ services via a multilingual website, available in all the languages spoken by network members.

STRUCTURE
The network consists of Lead Companies, and Members.

Lead Companies
The first company in a country / state to join Inttracom is invited to act as Lead Company for that country / state, and figure first in search results for services within it.

In return for this privilege, in order to highlight the network’s linguistic diversity and facilitate access to its members’ services, lead companies translate the static content of the Inttracom website (approx. 750 words) into a language of their choice.
To ensure network operation is fair, no member may be the Lead Company for more than one country / state.

NETWORK NUCLEUS
To date, the network has lead companies for the following countries:
Belgium, Egypt, Estonia (pending), Finland, France, Greece, Hungary (pending), India (National Capital Region of Delhi), Poland (pending), Portugal, South Korea, Turkey, UK (England, Wales).

The network has member companies in the following countries:
Belgium, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, UAE, UK, USA.

INTTRACOM ADMISSION CRITERIA
Inttracom members must have ISO 9001 certification or an equivalent certification.

COST OF INTTRACOM MEMBERSHIP
Members of Inttracom pay a single annual fee of € 150 per year, in the form of an Inttranews™ group subscription.
The same annual fee entitles the member’s head office and any branch offices it may have in any country to benefit from Inttracom services.

Inttranews™ is the leading source of news for the language industry worldwide with some 45,000 readers in over 140 countries [source: Google Analytics]

The Inttranews™ group subscription enables each Inttracom member to
i) track day-by-day market moves,
ii) co-brand the daily news bulletin with its company’s logo,
iii) distribute it to an unlimited number of guests, and
iv) issue press releases on its activities free of charge

BENEFITS
Members can promote their membership in an exclusive, global network of certified language service providers to existing customers and prospects.

They benefit from a multilingual search system enabling access for customers worldwide, and from all the services available on the Inttracom and Inttranews websites.

In particular, the Inttracom membership fee includes access to a global RFP alert service by e-mail.
Over the past months (01.08.2009 – 01.09.2010), the business information available to the network included 118 RFPs, and 2 translation companies for sale, representing a total business potential of EUR 26 million [source: Inttranews archives].

These RFPs involved the following countries / states:

Alabama, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, California, Canada, Finland, Florida, France, Gaza, Georgia, Germany, Indiana, Ireland, Italy, Kosoovo, Kyrgyzstan, Maryland, Missouri, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Texas, UK, Ukraine, Wales, Washington, West Virginia, Yemen.

Through the network, Inttracom members can reply to any RFP in any field requiring any language combination, with consistently high quality, using standard, multilingual CVs for their sub-contractors, at competitive rates.

COMMUNICATION
1. Inttracom members are entitled to display the Inttracom logo on their website, and in their communication, highlighting their membership in an exclusive, global network of certified language service providers.
2. A complete list of on-line newspapers and free PR distribution sites is included on the website for use by members.
3. All members’ press releases are distributed via Inttranews free of charge (see Inttranews terms and conditions).
4. A PR page is included in each language version of the Inttracom website for members’ use, in which to publish their press releases.
5. Inttracom members are provided with standard PR letters and press releases for their use.

JOIN INTTRACOM
If your company has ISO 9001 or equivalent quality certification and you wish to join the network, simply fill in the application form under the “Join Inttracom” section on the Inttracom website.

In all cases, Inttracom lead companies will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis, according to the date of effective membership.

Inttracom is designed to be the prime source of new ideas, technology, markets, products, services, business revenue and partners, in which quality is always the competitive advantage.

For more information, please contact Malcolm Duff (malcolm.duff@htt.fr)

This post has been updated (22 June 2011)

GALA has received inquiries from several individuals regarding unsolicited e-mails about a supposed “Walmart / GALA member pulse  survey.”  Please be advised that the Globalization and Localization Association (GALA) has no affiiliation with the individual who is distributing these e-mails.

The messages typically include contact information such as:

*************************************

Ron O’Neill
Head of Human Resources
GALA® Surveys
800-800-2190
(718) 213-4656
Email addressses such as walmartq3survey@gala.net, surveys@gala.net, humanresources@gala.net

*************************************

Alleged job offerings and communications typically begin with texts such as:

*************************************

BASIC JOB DESCRIPTION

In a  nutshell, your survey position would be basically Involve carrying out a quick 10-minute Survey on the nearest WALMART  Outlet/Store in your location by either making a Simple Purchase or Completing a Transaction at the Walmart Money Center located within the Premises.

Your aim is to simply rate the Outlet’s service by simply observing the Customer Service Efficiency and Friendliness.

Please Note: This is an ALL-EXPENSES-PAID survey and if you’re selected to survey the Walmart outlet in your region, you’ll be provided with Funds Upfront to Cover  your selected Surveys.
*************************************

A second scam has been reported in which individuals responding to Craigslist ads are offered a job as a research assistant to conduct secret-shopper type evaluations. Another individual has reported being offered a job as a payroll assistant. Typical messages include the following text:
We’ve got an opening for local Research Assistants in your region as we are presently recruiting for the on-going Gala Global member Pulse 2011 on all Business Enterprises nationwide. This position could easily be managed as Part-Time employment and the hours are very flexible. 

Contact details include:

Ron E Trescott, Ph.D.
Human Resources
Gala-Global
(978) 289-9396

*************************************

GALA has no affiliation with this person and advises recipients of these messages NOT to share any personal information.  The offers are not legitimate. The schemes involve illegitimate/fraudulent checks. Please use caution.

The issue  has been reported as abuse to Network Solutions, where the domain “GALA.net” is registered.