Having professional translators in emergency rooms for non-English-speaking patients may help limit potential miscommunications, according to a U.S. study. The study, conducted at two pediatric ERs and published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, found that mistakes which could have “clinical consequences,” like giving the wrong medication dose, were about twice as likely … [Read more...]
Parliament struggles to recruit English-language interpreters | European Parliament | EurAct | 06 April 2012
Thirty years on, Margaret Thatcher's education policies have created a shortage of skills in the EU institutions, which are struggling to recruit English-language interpreters and translators. The UK's House of Lords has called on the government to address Britain's "monoglot culture" by re-instating compulsory language classes in schools. "For years, we've been having great … [Read more...]
How Immersion Helps to Learn a New Language | By Sindy N. Bhanoo | The New York Times | April 2, 2012
Learning a foreign language is never easy, but contrary to common wisdom, it is possible for adults to process a language the same way a native speaker does. And over time, the processing improves even when the skill goes unused, researchers are reporting. For their study, in the journal PloS One, the scientists used an artificial language of 13 words, completely different … [Read more...]
Speech Recognition (SR) | By Jaime Fatás Cabeza | Posted: May 24, 2012
Speech recognition (SR) is a computer application that allows a computer to recognize sound waves and synthesize them as an audio stream, transcribe them as written text, or process them as recognizable commands, thus allowing control of the computer by voice. Usually, users dictate to a computer through a microphone. The application then samples and digitizes the sound waves … [Read more...]
Toss that Potato! | By Jennifer De La Cruz | April 22, 2012
By Jennifer De La Cruz I love comparing the process of being a conduit of communication to a game of “Hot Potato.” The image in my mind is that of the source language speaker tossing me information in the form of a steaming spud, and my job is to get rid of it as soon as possible, without getting burned, and doing so in a way that the target language … [Read more...]