📹 A video about the challenges faced by the developers of the NATO phonetic alphabet (also known as the ІКАО phonetic alphabet) as they worked to come up with the current names for all letters of the Latin alphabet (in English, 24 min).

At first glance, these names seem random, but in fact each one is the result of complex research and coordination.

The purpose of developing a phonetic alphabet is to ensure clear communication in noisy environments or when connection quality is poor. Linguists were tasked with selecting letter names that would not be easily confused with one another (for example, by varying stress patterns), would be easy to pronounce for speakers of different languages, and would not be mistaken for proper names. For this reason, the pronunciation is not always strictly English, and in the United States the word Delta is sometimes replaced with Data, Dixie, or David to avoid confusion with Delta Air Lines.

With minor variations, the phonetic alphabet developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has been adopted by other organizations, including the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the US Department of Defense (now, thanks to Trump, the Department of War), and many others.

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→ ICAO Cyrillic Transliteration Rules

🌐 Two-digit language codes should not be confused with two-digit country codes.

In Ukraine, the most confusing code is the UK code: when it comes to languages, it means Ukrainian, when it comes to countries, it means United Kingdom (but not Ukraine at all).

😃 The two-digit code for the Ukrainian language is UK. It is most often present in the URLs of Ukrainian versions of websites. For example, the address of the Ukrainian Wikipedia is uk.wikipedia.org.
😃 The two-digit code for Ukraine is UA. This code is present, for example, on car signs.

So, the full code for the Ukrainian language is uk-UA (in the screenshot).

😃 The code for English without dialects is EN.
😃 The code for the United States is US, the code for Great Britain is GB. Therefore, the code for the American version of English is en-US, and the code for the British version is en-GB.

Language codes are defined by the ISO 639 standard, and country codes are defined by the ISO 3166 standard. Codes are not only two-digit ones.

#Ukrainian #English #techtips

🎓 Related resources for those who master or plan to master Xliff Editor (Translation Workspace):

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😃 Developer's Website

😁 Installation kit: Download page at the Resources tab of Translation Workspace server
😁 Help
😁 Keyboard shortcuts

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😃 Educational Resources

😁 Lionbridge: Introduction to Translation Workspace playlist
😁 CATguruEN: How to set up Translation Workspace
😁 CATguruEN: How to translate in Translation Workspace XLIFF editor
😁 Babelos: How To Work On TWS XLIFF Tool
😁 Confluence: TWS -Translation Workspace XLIFF Editor

😃 Additional Resources

😁 Translation Workspace group at LinkedIn

#xliffeditor #tutorials #educationalresources

📈 Ten trends in the translation and localization market that are predicted to intensify in 2026 by analytical company CSA Research:

😃 Specialization will become increasingly important; the “jack of all trades” approach will gradually disappear.

😃 The rate of decline in revenue from translation as a standalone service will exceed the rate of growth in the volume of content that needs to be localized.

😃 AI will be used not so much to replace people as to increase the level of automation.

😃 Simple translation will satisfy buyers less and less; instead, they will need adaptation to local conditions, regulatory requirements, and cultural specifics.

😃 The main requirement for AI will no longer be speed and scalability, but the reliability of its output and the ability to verify results quickly.

😃 AI translation will continue to spread, but it will be increasingly regulated by the state. Restrictions on its use will be introduced.

😃 Continuing the previous point: as reputational threats and litigation risks associated with AI increase, the approach to translation quality will be rethought — it will be seen primarily as a way to minimize risk.

😃 The success of AI will depend not so much on the models themselves as on the availability of data and specialists who know how to work with it.

😃 Language service buyers will demand integrated, evidence-based solutions: case studies, demonstrations, and industry-specific metrics. Language service providers will need to deliver measurable results. Sales managers will increasingly become solution architects.

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→ Results of a survey among freelancers from different countries

#projectmanagement #language_services_market #artificialintelligence #AI

💻 February Linguistic News

😃 Tools

😁 Release of Service Pack 18 Update 8 for Transit/TermStar NXT.

😃 Publications

😁 February edition of Multilingual (also attached).
😁 January edition of Slator Tool Box.
😁 January edition of JoSTrans.

😃 Companies

😁 YouTube's AI auto-dubbing is now available for everyone regardless of creators' participation in the partner program.

#transit #audiovideotranslation

👅 Duolingo has published its annual report on the state of the language learning market. Highlights:

😃 Despite NMT, LLMs, and other AI technologies, general interest in language learning is at an all-time high.

😃 English is the most widely studied language — in 79% of countries worldwide (159 in total). At the same time, demand for language proficiency certification is growing. After English, the most popular languages are Spanish, French, Japanese, and German.

😃 Popularity of second languages: French (60 countries), Spanish (48), German (22), English (15), and Japanese (13).

😃 Among the fastest-growing languages are Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, and Japanese. This growth has been driven in part by new opportunities to learn these languages in one’s native language rather than through English.

😃 Countries with the largest number of students learning three or more languages: Japan ranks first, followed by Australia in second place, Finland in third, Germany in fourth, and the United Kingdom in fifth.

😃 The most diligent students are in Japan. The language that most attracts highly motivated learners is Spanish.

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Earlier in 2025, Duolingo announced that users can now broadcast their learning achievements — specifically, the levels they have reached in language study — directly to their LinkedIn profiles in real time, thereby showcasing their language skills to potential employers. According to the announcement, these achievements are updated instantly.

#duolingo #linkedin #studylanguage

⚖️ The National Center for State Courts (NCSC), an independent non-profit organization dedicated to improving the justice system in the United States and other countries, has published Considerations and Cautions for Courts considering the use of machine translation in legal proceedings (find a PDF version here).

General considerations:

😃 Courts should only use qualified court interpreters for courtroom interactions.

😃 Whenever possible, courts should provide language access at non-courtroom points of contact through bilingual staff or qualified court interpreters.

😃 Significantly limit the use of machine translation to brief, non-complex, out-of-court interactions.

😃 Use machine translation as a starting point for human review.

😃 Clearly inform court users if communication or information was created using machine translation and about the limitations of machine translation.

😃 Only use machine translation for in-person interactions after users have provided informed consent.

😃 Create a grievance procedure related to problems arising from the use of machine translation.

😃 Consider developing custom-programmed machine translation applications.

😃 Create jurisdiction-wide policies about the use of machine translation.

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→ Interpreter errors during interrogation of suspects and witnesses

#machinetranslation #MT #legaltranslation

👩‍💻 Some tips on preparing files for translation in Trados Studio (from this article).

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😃 Avoid monolithic documents that are hundreds of mega-bytes in file size, rather organize content into smaller chunks in order to avoid memory problems on the translator’s PC.
😃 Don't break sentences into multiple paragraphs: both the translation and subsequent layout of the document with such breaks will turn into a nightmare. Instead, use soft line breaks.
😃 Don't indent paragraphs with spaces and tabs—use auto-indent styles instead.
😃 Use the built-in table editor rather than tabs to create tables. Leave enough room for the table headers to expand.

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😃 Avoid sending PDF files to translation.
😃 For Microsoft Office files, avoid using the old binary file formats (DOC, XLS, and PPT) rather use the modern equivalents (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX).
😃 In Word and PowerPoint, separate text to be translated from text not to be translated using styles or the hidden text feature.
😃 In Word, it is a good idea to accept all tracked changes before submitting documents for translation.
😃 For Excel documents, do not collapse or hide any columns or rows that you would like to be translated, as these will not get imported into the translation editor like Trados Studio.
😃 Avoid long text chunks in table cells—table cells in Excel are limited to 32,767 characters per cell. If the translated text is longer than the original, it may exceed this limit.
😃 Avoid using Microsoft Publisher if at all possible, rather use InDesign (or QuarkXPress) as there is no reliable file type filter available at the moment for MS Publisher, so translating these documents always means tedious post-processing work.

#techtips #excel #word #powerpoint #tradosstudio

📈 Report by the analytical agency Nimdzi on the state of the interpreting market.

😃 In 2024, the interpreting market accounted for just over 16% of the total language services market. In absolute terms, this amounted to $11.7 billion. It is expected to grow to $17.2 billion by 2029, meaning this sector will expand significantly faster than the language industry as a whole.

😃 AI is gradually entering the field of interpreting, primarily in contexts where low cost and speed are more important than quality, as well as in cases involving rare languages that were previously not supported.

😃 The biggest problem in the field of interpreting is the growing shortage of qualified interpreters, driven by pressure from AI, the closure of university translation programs, and instability caused by the actions of the Trump administration.

😃 There is a trend toward consolidation in the market: language service providers are seeking to expand their range of services, increase their geographical coverage, and adopt new technologies, primarily AI.

#interpreting #language_services_market #artificialintelligence #AI

💻 March Linguistic News

😃 Tools

😁 Release of Weblate 5.16
😁 Release of Service Pack 18 Update 9 for Transit/TermStar NXT
😁 Release of Subtitle Edit 4.0.15
😁 February updates at CrowdIn
😁 Google Translate has improved: thanks to Gemini’s AI capabilities, it now offers alternative translations for idioms and colloquial expressions
😁 BeLazy now supports Trados Cloud

😃 Publications

😁 March edition of Multilingual (also attached)
😁 The Slator Tool Box is officially retired
😁 Edition of The Linguist

#crowdin #transit #subtitle_edit #belazy #audiovisualtranslation