HOC Blog

Talent drainage in Arabic localization: Causes and solutions

In this post, I will discuss the challenge of talent drainage and experience retention. This will be the second post in a series of posts about challenges facing Arabic Translation and Localization.

The Arabic translation industry suffers high “bounce rates”. By this, I mean the tendency linguists have to think of translation and localization as a source of extra income, not a career, as well as the high rates of linguists leaving the industry when offered a chance. On the other hand, practices adopted by many localization companies does not allow for proper experience building and continuous learning. This situation, that has been hindering the industry for decades, is the result of the accumulation of many different factors, namely:

Translating Names and Acronyms: A Common Issue in Arabic Translation

Summary: Acronyms and names of companies, projects, and entities should NEVER be translated. They should be researched.

The issue of translating names and acronyms may not be as challenging in Latin and Indo-European languages as it is in Arabic translation. There are many reasons for this differentiation, including (but not limited to):

Gifted: Nature or Nurture?

The question is not how to identify a gifted person, but how to give people the chance to be gifted.

Inspired by the Giftedness 2012 conference (The 12th Asia-Pacific conference on giftedness hosted by Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for the Distinguished Academic Performance), I would like to pose an important question to this blog reader's: How fair is the current structure of "giftedness" identification programs?This applies to the way most societies, including our Arab one, define giftedness influence performance even at the corporate level.

Arabic Content on the Web: Call for Action

It was by mere luck that I came across a page on Friends’ fictional character Phoebe Buffay on Wikipedia (Ok, I admit, I was searching for Smelly Cat the song, just for fun!). I looked at the page, and in one second, I decided to write this short post on the status of Arabic content online.

HOC New Translator Guide - Part 1 of 7

This guide is intended to help new and experienced translators and editors understand House of Content’s philosophy in Arabic digital content, and translation in particular.

Although this is not a translation course, it is intended to “train” translators on basic principles in translation. Part 4 of this series will focus on Arabic translation techniques, but the rest of the posts can apply to all language combinations.

We welcome your feedback at any time, as we are sure experienced translators and content specialists have a lot to add and enrich this quick guide.