PLG Welcomes Philippe Willems, PhD and Justin Suevel!

We are proud and excited to announce the latest addition of three new members to the PLG team! Philippe Willems, Ph.D. is joining us as a manager of translations and Justin Suevel as a project manager. With their skills and expertise, they will be focusing on improving the quality of our translations and the scope of our abilities as translators.

Philippe is a former Associate Professor of French from Northern Illinois University, where he was hired to teach translation and a vast array of language/culture courses. He brought his love for technology into the classroom by introducing e-learning, dubbing, subtitling, and multimedia localization to his students. He also holds a Ph.D. in French studies from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Philippe has been a colleague, teacher, friend, and neighbor to people from over 70 countries. He shares his time between the US, his native France, and Japan, and is part of a trilingual household.

Justin recently graduated from the University of Illinois, with a Bachelor’s degree in German and Commercial Studies as well as a Certificate in Translation. He spent his junior year studying abroad in Vienna, Austria where he greatly improved his language skills as well as his knowledge of many European cultures. Justin contributes many useful skills and attributes to the PLG team including, translation theory and practice, knowledge of European cultures and languages, attention to detail, client relations, sales, a great sense of humor, and his natural good looks. Some of his hobbies include reading, soccer, football, video games, hiking, and long walks on the beach.

We are very excited to welcome these three new individuals with such strong backgrounds in translation and language. Bienvenue! Willkommen! Congratulations  and welcome to PLG!

PLG Welcomes Laura Mortier

Laura's Avatar

Laura is our in-house native French speaker, having grown up both in the Alps region of France and in the United States. Laura holds a Bachelor of Arts with a Focus in Graphic Design and a minor in French Studies from the University of Wisconsin. Laura will be primarily responsible for our French language projects, particularly those that deal with translations for Canada. In recent years, PLG has seen unprecedented growth in our French language translation services. French has quickly become a top language for PLG, along with Spanish, Chinese, German and Italian. PLG currently has project managers fluent in all of these languages.

PLG is proud of its newest team member. Welcome to PLG Laura!

French translations continue to be in demand because of Canada French language law

Bilingual stop sign in Canada

The Official Language Act of 1974 made French the only language of Quebec, and then replaced by the Charter of the French Language in 1997, which required French as the only language for advertising and education. Simply put, any commercial signs, packaging, and public information had to be in French. Certainly the law came without controversy but the law has also prompted the rest of Canada to also require French to the public, at least to a certain degree. Because of French language laws in Canada, many U.S. advertisers and importers have seen a need for translating their English materials. This includes product packaging, instruction manuals and booklets, marketing pamphlets among others. As a result of this law, PLG continues to see a high demand for French language translations. Many U.S. advertisers and manufacturers that want to go into Canada cannot do without French translations. PLG’s focus on providing its customer’s services tailored for Canada has positioned PLG as a leader in French translations in North America.

PLG offers services in French language translation and typesetting. It also offers a full service compliance review service for Canada and Mexico and is currently working on developing its Chinese.

For more information about our French translation services, please visit http://plg-online.com/french_translation_services.html

For more information about our Canadian and Mexican Compliance services, please visit the url's below:

Canadian Compliance

http://www.plg-online.com/canadian_compliance.html

Mexican Compliance

http://www.plg-online.com/compliance_services_mexico.html

Client Spotlight: Masuda Funai

Masuda Funai, a corporate law firm specializing in global affairs has partnered with PLG to provide translation services to their various clients. These services include corporate contracts, immigration documents, visas, diplomas and transcripts and other personal documents necessary for the corporate establishment in the United States. Languages include Spanish, Slovakian, Portuguese, Polish, Chinese, Slovenian, Korean, Japanese, Dutch and German.  Legal translations have formed a growing portion of PLG’s service offering and Masuda Funai has been a key player in expanding this.

For more information on Masuda Funai, please visit their website at http://www.masudafunai.com/

For more information on our certificate translation services, please visit
http://plg-online.com/certificate_translation_services.html 

Foreign visitors to World Cup aided by nonprofit translation program

This year, even monolingual sports fanatics were able to enjoy the World Cup. This year’s edition of soccer’s biggest tournament was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where Portuguese is the official language. Over half a million foreigners attended to see teams from 32 countries compete for the cup. In order to help all of those people navigate through everyday situations like hailing a taxi, consulting a doctor, or ordering from a restaurant, a Korean non-profit organization set up a language assistance service that operated 24 hours a day during the tournament. The service is called Rio Amigo. Calling the right number connected tourists to a volunteer translator speaking one of seven languages (English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Korean) who were then able to communicate with the locals in Portuguese. Rio Amigo is the direct descendent of Before Babel Brigade, a similar service developed for the 2002 World Cup, which was hosted by South Korea and Japan. Due to its popularity, the number of volunteer translators has more than doubled since then. The World Cup may be over, but perhaps by the next one (in four years’ time), more languages will be offered.

Meet our new staff: Joy and Keith

Last month, PLG welcomed two new staff members: Joy Shapley (Project Manager) and Keith Jordan (Director of New Business Development). Read more to learn a few interesting facts about the newest additions to the PLG team.

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Joy Shapley is a recent graduate of the Translation Certificate Program at the University of Illinois. She has a bachelor’s degree in linguistics, speaks Spanish fluently, and is currently studying Japanese, Arabic, and German. As a project manager, Joy will be responsible for overseeing translation projects from the initial quote to the final edits. In her free time, Joy likes to read, write, and play sports; rugby is her game of choice, but she admits to being obsessed with the World Cup as well.

As Director of New Business Development, Keith Jordan will be in charge of talking to potential customers and explaining the ins and outs of what we do here at PLG. He is a native of New Jersey who moved here in 2002. Now he resides in Rockford with his wife Mary and his three children: Destiny, BJ, and Brian. Keith is an avid swimmer, but he’s not a fan of any other sports. When he’s not at work, Keith enjoys reading the Bible and participating in activities for his church.

Microsoft’s new Skype feature: Translating calls in real time

Last month at the Code technology conference, technology giant Microsoft announced a new feature for Skype, the decade-old video conferencing program allowing people from around the world to talk to each other, face-to-face. Skype has more than 300 million active users, and is currently available worldwide for free. The new feature is slated to “translate” conversations in real time; that is, after a sentence is said, an automated voice will repeat that sentence in the language of your choice.

Sounds like something out of science fiction? Well, don’t drop out of your foreign language classes quite yet – the new technology, as impressive as it is, still has its flaws. In practice, it seems like you will be able to understand the gist of what the other person is saying, but the translated sentences that result from your conversation will sound choppy and strange to a native speaker. Useful for saying hi to your friend Christiane in France, perhaps, but for a serious business meeting, you’re better off hiring a professional interpreter.

For more on this story visit the official Microsoft Blog article at http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2014/05/27/microsoft-demos-breakthrough-in-real-time-translated-conversations/