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The European Commission wishes to promote SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises) in their international activities. SMEs have ideas that sometimes cannot be implemented because they depend on the availability of data resources or specialized tools that are too expensive to obtain and maintain. In some areas, data pooling, sharing, and reuse are further complicated by Europe’s many languages. Actions under SME-DCL aim to make it easier for innovative players, especially SMEs, to exploit and contribute to large digital resource pools. User-centered experimentation will also be supported, with the aim of demonstrating the integration of data-intensive technologies within innovative solutions and processes.

The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Work Programme 2011-2012, under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), is divided into eight Challenges of strategic interest to European society. Challenge 4 and strategic objective 4.1 have been designed specifically for SMEs, with a focus on the need for multilingual digital content.

Challenge 4: Technologies for Digital Content and Languages

Digital content is the foundation of a knowledge based society. Not only is knowledge stored in digital content; it is also from digital content that knowledge is extracted and exploited by individuals and organizations across modalities and languages. This makes it crucial for information stored digitally to be readily and reliably accessible over time to European citizens and enterprises. In addition, in every step of its lifecycle digital content should be be adequately supported and enhanced, as businesses respond to changes in the technology landscape.

The EC recognizes that SMEs require special support, but would like to see evidence that the proposed idea has a definite potential and will result in something that is both useful and viable. Therefore, EC encourages experimentation with innovative technologies, solutions, and processes at the first-use stage that will yield the desired results.

The call should achieve the following objectives:

• Improved European competitive position in a multilingual digital market, achieved through the provision of better services to citizens and businesses.
• Novel forms of partnership between new program entrants and established players, reduced development costs, and shorter time-to-market, all of which stimulate innovation and help expand markets.
• Result-driven knowledge transfer among research centers (and their spin-offs), progressive technology providers (especially SMEs), data brokers/aggregators, and content providers.

Outline proposals (5 pages max.) should be submitted by 28 April 2011. The complete information package and submission rules can be found on

http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/dc/index.cfm?fuseaction=UserSite.CooperationDetailsCallPage&call_id=392#prereg and

http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/language-technologies/fp7-sme_en.html

If you would like more information on the SME-DCL call, please contact infso-e1@ec.europa.eu.

Foreign language voice over is an essential part of today’s global entertainment market. With such a wide array of audiences from every corner of the world consuming different media, creators of television shows, film, internet series, promos, and commercials must cater to a more international audience every time. Foreign language voice over services that are required for such media projects include voice recording and other audio and video foreign language services, like dubbing, subtitling, interactive marketing, IVR prompts recording, eLearning recording, and localization.

Today voice actors provide foreign voice over in about as many languages as you can think of. From Farsi to Catalan to Slovak, there is a demand for foreign language voice over services across cultures, ethnicities, and geographies.

Voice overs are also referred to as off-camera or off-stage commentary, depending on the production. Foreign voice over often entails a dubbed soundtrack recorded over the original audio of a piece of media. The original audio track most often can still be heard, albeit quieter, in the background of the film, commercial, or television show. A common use of foreign language voice over is for news reports and documentaries that feature subjects speaking a different language from that spoken by the audience. In places like Eastern Europe, nearly all films that are viewed by locals have been dubbed or translated.

Voice over artists are integral to creating successful and professional foreign language voice overs. Many voice actors study the art of voice acting, like in Japan, where there are over 130 voice acting schools. A skilled voice actor is usually a native speaker of the language who has been screened to ensure the quality of his or her accent. Well-executed foreign language voice overs take into consideration local intonations, as well as pronunciation of English words, like brand names, celebrities, or other cross-over phrases. Accurate translation of the original text is also integral to the success of the voice over provided for the project.

In Japan, female voice actors often play male characters, especially in anime films and television series. Japanese voice actors are often celebrities in their country, and are sometimes more famous than film actors or pop singers. In countries like Russia and Poland, a single artist will often provide the voice over for an entire production, especially on television. Foreign language voice over needs differ from country to country, but the overall demand will likely remain constant for many years to come.

The committee seeks to meet the needs of a multilingual world through quality and assessment standards. Read the full press release here:

NEWS FROM ASTM INTERNATIONAL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New ASTM Committee to Develop Standards for Language Services

Translation, Interpretation, Proficiency and Foreign Language Instruction to Be Addressed

W. CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa., February 8, 2011—Newly formed ASTM International Committee F43 on Foreign Language Services and Products will develop standards that promote best practices for users and providers of language services and products. The new standards development group will also serve as a resource on language translation and proficiency for law enforcement, intelligence and other federal agencies.

Meeting the Needs of a Multilingual World

The language services and products industry encompasses translation, interpretation, language training, machine translation, language testing and human language technology (technologies designed to replicate and respond to the human voice). During the past 15 years, the industry has experienced rapid growth and demands for standards have accompanied that growth. Standards are needed to promote quality and the ability to communicate effectively in different languages for economic, security, and diplomatic reasons.

Providing Quality and Assessment Standards

In the mid-2000s, three ASTM standards were initially developed under the auspices of ASTM Committee F15 on Consumer Products to assist those who purchase and provide language services and products. However, government agencies — including the Department of Defense and the Pentagon’s Defense Language Institute — requested the development of consensus standards to evaluate job performance testing, translation output and the quality of translation services and products. Those requests were supported by academic and professional organizations — including the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, the Joint National Council on Languages, the Interagency Language Roundtable and the American Translators Association.

Bill Rivers, chief scientist at Integrated Training Solutions and chief linguist for the National Language Service Corps, both based in Arlington, Va., comments, “We had enough of a critical mass to form a full committee to serve all our constituents.” Rivers is the chairman of the new ASTM committee.

F43 Focus

ASTM Committee F43 on Foreign Language Services and Products will address language interpretation, translation, proficiency and foreign language instruction. In addition to maintaining and updating existing language standards, the new committee will work with health care, court and other interpreters and translators to tailor new performance standards to their particular environments. F43 will also develop standards to assess new Interagency Language Roundtable guidelines covering translation, interpretation, cultural proficiency and other topics. Additionally, standards will be developed to address performance testing, to test K-12 student foreign language proficiency, to assess language training programs, and to help companies and organizations determine the cultural and language needs of employees operating in foreign countries.

ASTM Committee F43 will hold its first organizational meeting on Feb. 17 at the University of Maryland National Foreign Language Center (NFLC), in College Park, Md. For more information, visit www.astm.org/COMMIT/F43. Feedback, comments and questions should be directed to Ashley Wiand, ASTM International (phone: 610-832-9551; awiand@astm.org).

ASTM International is one of the largest international standards development and delivery systems in the world. ASTM International meets the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles for the development of international standards: coherence, consensus, development dimension, effectiveness, impartiality, openness, relevance and transparency. ASTM standards are accepted and used in research and development, product testing, quality systems and commercial transactions.

ASTM Staff Contact: Ashley Wiand, Phone: 610-832-9551; awiand@astm.org

ASTM PR Contact: Barbara Schindler, Phone: 610-832-9603; bschindl@astm.org