Jose Mourinho – The Coach of the Decade, The Special one and The Translator?

Posted on January 24, 2011 by admin

Many of you know Jose Mourinho as one of the best football coaches in the world. Nicknamed “The Special One”, he is currently managing Real Madrid, and has helped clubs like Porto, Inter- Milan and Chelsea to the highest honor. However, not many people know that he actually started off his career as an interpreter.

It was during the year 1992 when the late Sir Bobby Robson was the head coach for Sporting Lisbon in Portugal. He needed the assistance of a coach who was well-versed in both English and Portuguese and Jose Mourinho was the perfect fit.

Jose Mourinho speaks Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French and English fluently and he also knows Catalan. He started learning the various languages due to the fact that the knowledge he required as a student was only accessible in languages other than his native Portuguese.

After a couple of years in the Portuguese league, Jose Mourinho soon found his way over to FC Barcelona of Spain, one of the biggest football clubs in the world when Sir Bobby Robson was appointed head coach there.

While working for Sir Bobby Robson at Barcelona, he learnt Catalan and famously quoted that he found it impossible to work in a country in which he did not know the language.

Jose Mourinho seen here with Sir Bobby Robson, during his stint as an interpreter

Jose Mourinho was once again reminded of his roots as a translator when he went back to FC Barcelona in April of 2010, he was then the coach of rival Italian football club Inter-Milan. Unhappy by their team’s loss, FC Barcelona fans started to hurl abuse at him, calling him “El Traductor” (the translator), suggesting that he was a nobody but a lowly translator.

I would beg to differ from the statement that the FC Barcelona fans made, as it was in fact during his years as an interpreter that Jose Mourinho got the chance to learn from the best in the business, something that has attributed to his current success.

From Jose Mourinho, we can see the advantages of being well-versed in several languages which had opened up doors of great opportunities for him.

Posted in Communications, Language, Translation | 3 Comments

Emerging Markets – Brazil

Posted on January 13, 2011 by admin

Continuing on our profiling on emerging markets, today’s blog post will focus on Brazil, a nation where many will know as a great footballing nation, having won the world cup 5 times and for generations they have been producing some of the best footballers on the planet, from the legendary Pele and Zico in the 60s and 70s to the likes of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaka in recent years.

Putting football aside, not only is Brazil a champion in football they are also a resource-rich democracy that is growing steadily and they are being considered one the most if not the most attractive emerging market.

Brazil will soon have the chance to bolster their reputation of being an emerging power to become a true economic powerhouse, as they are going to host what is considered 2 of the most important sporting events in world sports,  The FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016.

These few years till 2014 and 2016 are the most important years for Brazil’s overall development as the entire planet would be focused on them.

Geography
At 8,514,877 sq km, Brazil is the largest nation in the continent of South America and the fifth largest nation in the world, with more than over 200 million people living there; it’s the fifth most populous nation in the world.

Economy
Characterized by large and well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and service sectors, Brazil is expanding its presence globally to become the largest emerging market.

They are one of the few energy-independent countries in the world; having the largest supply of fresh water in the world. In which, many experts had predicted that the value of water might one day overtake that of oil.

Due to its strong economy and a stable currency, Brazil was barely affected by the global recession, as their GDP dropped only by a mere 0.2 percent, moreover in 2010 experts had expected their GDP to grown from 4.5 to 6 percent.

Brazil’s newfound stability has successfully elevated the status of millions of poor Brazilians, lifting them into the middle class. This had provide golden opportunities for investors to penetrate on this previously untapped market, as now with their new found wealth, more Brazilians are willing to spend on quality goods

One area that is booming in due to the emergence of the middle class is its technological market; In terms of PC sales market, Brazil has overtaken countries like Germany to become the fifth-largest computer market in the world. It’s also a hub for banking technology and open-source software.

One key investor in Brazil’s booming technological market would be Google, Brazil is Google’s stronghold for its search and Gmail businesses and its one of the only places where Orkut, Google’s social-networking service is a leader.

Language
The official language of Brazil is Portuguese, which is spoken by more than 99% of the population. As for the written part, Brazilian Portuguese differs significantly from the spoken language as they follow different sets of rules as followed in Portugal.

As a result, foreigners who speak fluent Portuguese would have difficulties in writing Brazilian Portuguese properly.

Because of Brazil’s size, self-sufficiency, and relative isolation, foreign languages are not widely spoken; and although English and Spanish is bring learnt in schools, businesses would be strongly advised to properly adapt their products to that of Brazilian Portuguese if they were to stand a chance in competing in the vast Brazilian market.

The Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio De Janero, a symbol of Christianity and an icon of Brazil

Culture
The core culture of Brazil is essentially derived from Portuguese culture, because of its strong colonial ties with the Portuguese empire.

Among other influences, the Portuguese introduced the Portuguese language, Roman Catholicism and colonial architectural styles. Some other aspects of Brazilian culture were influenced by the contributions of Italian, German and other European immigrants who arrived in large numbers in the South and Southeast of Brazil

The indigenous Amerindians influenced Brazil’s language and cuisine; and the Africans influenced language, cuisine, music, dance and religion.

Stock photo by www.pixmac.com

Posted in Emergent Markets | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Emerging Markets – Russia

Posted on January 6, 2011 by admin

The shrinking of wealth gaps and the prevalent availability of education and technology in recent years has resulted in an influx of emerging markets, as some of these markets remain relatively untapped; it provides significant potential for business opportunities.

In today’s blog post, we will be looking at Russia, a land of mystical culture and rich history, although Russian has successfully moved to become a market-based and globally-integrated, there is still a stigma in the minds of many that Russia is still the war torn and globally-isolated country it was.

Here are some interesting facts about Russia that might just change your mind

  • Moscow, The capital of Russia, is famously known as the being the fifth fashion capital of the World, trailing behind only to the likes of Paris, Milan, London and New York.
  • According to Global Property guide, report shows that Moscow, the capital has the 2nd most expensive land prices in the world, just behind Monte Carlo Monaco
  • Russia is the place where Roman Abromavich established his oil and gas empire, thus it’s the main source of income for the wealthy footballers of English football club Chelsea FC.

Geography
At 17,075,400 square kilometres Russia is the largest country on earth, extending across the whole of north Asia and 40% of Europe and spanning over 9 time zones. With a wide natural resource base, including major deposits of timber, petroleum, natural gas, coal, ores and other mineral resources.

The 140 million people living in Russia makes it them the 9th most populous nation in the world.

Economy
Russia is a nation with an enormous natural resources, particularly oil and natural gas, and Like most major economies, the Russian economy took one of the hardest hit in the 2008-09 economic crisis,  Oil prices were plummeting and the foreign credits that Russian banks and firms had previously relied on has dried up.

However in 2010, Russia has already seen a sharp recovery in their GDP growth when commodity prices stabilized, and according to many financial experts; notably the International Monetary Fund, they have forecasted that the Russian economy to grow 4.25% after falling 7.9% last year.

As compared to most developed nations, Russians have comparatively lower wages but they are generally highly qualified; thus this provides a good ground for international brands to leverage on the Russian workforce.

With Russia’s economy growing on an average of 7% since the 1998 Russian financial crisis, it has resulted in the doubling of disposable incomes and the emergence Russia’s middle class, this as a result has provide a ready consumer base that is willing to spend on quality goods and services, thus providing great investment opportunities for international brands, notably luxury brands.

Language
Russian is 7th in the World’s most widespread Language, besides Russia it is also spoken in many other countries such as Belarus, China, Estonia, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, U.S and Uzbekistan.

Saint Basil's Cathedral is a showcase of medieval Russian architecture.

Although the English language is quite commonly used in business context; putting in the extra effort to learn Russian will bring you a long way in gaining the trust of Russian business partners and it’s also strongly recommended to at least learn the Cyrillic alphabet so as to help you get around the streets of Russia.

Culture
Think Russian culture and probably The Nutcracker, a masterpiece of the great Russian composer Tchaikovsky would come to mind.

The Russian Culture is essentially a hybrid of both European and Asian culture and can be considered one of the richest cultures in the world. With its diverse forms of arts, music and literature, Russian Culture has also strongly influenced many other world cultures.

Stock photo by www.pixmac.com

Posted in Emergent Markets | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

On The Fly Interpretation

Posted on December 29, 2010 by admin

Last week we looked at Word Lens, an application that allows you to visually translate text on the go, today we are going to review another useful application  called Jibbigo , this time it has the ability to interpret on the go.

As shown in the following video, you would just need to speak into your iPhone and it would automatically capture and interpret whatever you have spoken into the target language, in this case from English to Chinese.

As compared to Word Lens, this application is much pricier, it ranges from USD$24.99 to USD$27.99 per language pairing and is currently available in Spanish-English, Japanese-English, Chinese-English, Iraqi Arabic-English, Korean-English, French-English. German-English, and Philipino-English.

Source:[Jibbigo]

Posted in Mobile Technology | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

On The Fly Translation

Posted on December 23, 2010 by admin

Going overseas to a foreign country and you are not very familiar with the language there?  why not try out this iPhone app called word lens.

As demonstrated in the video below, by simply pointing your iPhone at the foreign words, the app would be able to instantaneously translate them into English , and best of all you would not require internet access to utilize this app.

The application  is available for free at the apple app store, but you would need to do an in app purchase of US$4.99 for each of the language pairs, currently there are only 2 language pairs available; the “English to Spanish” and the “Spanish to English” translations.

If your destination is Spain or any other Spanish speaking countries, this is one app you should try out.

source:[Quest Visual]

Posted in Mobile Technology | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Crowdsourcing Facebook’s localization process

Posted on December 17, 2010 by admin

With 550 million registered users and counting, Facebook already been translated and localized into 65 different languages, one might think that Facebook had spent a great deal of money in localizing their content; if you are one of those who thought so, you are so wrong.

On the contrary, to embark on their global presence, Facebook launched an application called “Translations” and through this application, the tedious process was crowd sourced, allowing the millions of Facebook users worldwide to participate in the translation process.

Within a few weeks, Facebook managed to release its first ever localized version in February of 2008 when they launched their Spanish site.For the months to follow, volunteers from all over the world had utilized this application to help translate the social network into every other major language in the world.

After seeing the success of “Translations”,Facebook did not just stop there,instead they continued their global mapping on the other sites and applications across the internet; as long as the site or application uses Facebook Connect, they will be able to leverage on Facebook’s global community in getting it translated into any language that Facebook Translations supports.

This move by Facebook would have epitomized Facebook’s philosophy “Giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected” but on the flipside, Facebook is at the same time patenting this crowdsourcing translations process which had helped transformed them into the global entity they are today, seeking to profit from other networks that are thinking of using similar method to localize their content.

Source: [Facebook Translations,Inside Facebook,TechCrunch]

Posted in Social Media, Web and Technology | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The World of One Screen: The Fusion of Social Media

Posted on December 13, 2010 by admin

Imagine a world where everyone you meet, every brand you use, and every company employee immediately enters your network. Imagine not having to “friend” or “like” anyone, but simply interacting with them – online or off brings them into your network. Imagine a world fueled by the most powerful currency of all: Relevance.

It’s a lot closer than you think. Join Peter Shankman, founder of Help A Reporter Out – the wildly successful social media website which has gained more than 100,000 members within 2 years and is among the top 5 rankings of public relations and online social websites, as he discusses this new world, and more importantly, how to stay on top of it.

Listen as Peter expands on the four rules of the new world, including being transparent, being relevant, the art of brevity, and the guides to being remembered, not simply recalled.

Early Bird Promotion – Registrations with Payment before 31 December 2010
Early Bird Fee: B 8000 (SGD$348)
5 or more B 7500 (SGD$326)
10 or more B 7000(SGD$304)

Registrations after 31 December 2010
Normal Fee: B 9000 (SGD$391)
5 or more B 8000 (SGD$348)
10 or more B 7500 (SGD$326)

Venue
Ballroom Hall, Landmark Hotel Bangkok
Sukhumvit Rd, Bangkok

Date and Time
Wednesday 16th February 2011 09:00 – 17:00
Gates Open Approximately 30 minutes before show start.

To buy Tickets online, visit
http://www.thaiticketmajor.com/seminar/the-world-of-one-screen-eng.php

About Peter Shankman
An entrepreneur, author, speaker, and worldwide connector, Peter is recognized worldwide for radically new ways of thinking about Social Media, PR, and marketing, advertising, creativity, and customer service.


Peter is perhaps best known for founding Help A Reporter Out, (HARO) which in under a year has become the de-facto standard for thousands of journalists looking for sources on deadline, offering them more than 125,000 sources around the world looking to be quoted in the media. HARO is currently the largest free source repository in the world, sending out over 1,200 queries from worldwide media each week. HARO’s tagline, “Everyone is an Expert at Something,” proves over and over again to be true, as thousands of new members join at helpareporter.com each week.

In addition to HARO, Peter is the founder and CEO of The Geek Factory, Inc., a boutique Marketing and PR Strategy firm located in New York City, with clients worldwide. His blog, which he launched as a website in 1995 at http://shankman.com, both comments on and generates news and conversation.

Peter’s PR and Social Media clients have included the Snapple Beverage Group, NASA, Sprint, Haworth, The US Department of Defense, Walt Disney World, Abercrombie and Kent, The Ad Council, American Express, Discovery Networks, New Frontier Media, Napster, Juno, Dream Catcher Destinations Club, Harrah’s Hotels, and many others.

Peter is the author of Can We Do That?! Outrageous PR Stunts That Work and Why Your Company Needs Them (Wiley and Sons 2006) and a frequent keynote speaker and workshop presenter at conferences, and tradeshows worldwide, including The Affiliate Summit, South By Southwest, The Public Relations Society of America, The International Association of Business Communicators, CTIA, CTAM, CES, PMA, OMMA, Mobile Marketing Asia, and the Direct Marketing Association. Peter’s second book, Customer Service: New Rules for a Social-Enabled World (Que Biz-Tech 2010) comes out in the fall of 2010.

This event is organized by Verztec Consulting (Thailand) Ltd
195 Empire Tower, 45th Floor, South Sathorn Road,
Bangkok 10120
Tel: 02-670-0461 Fax: 02-670-0462
www.facebook.com/verztecthailand
www.verztec.com

Posted in Communications, Social Media, Web and Technology | Leave a comment

Harry Potter and the Illegal Translators

Posted on December 9, 2010 by admin

We have seen how erroneous translations have resulted in expensive damages for some of the world’s biggest corporations.

Today, we will look at erroneous translations in a different light, a term loosely known as illegal translation.

One famous example would be JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series; perhaps the most widely read stories in the world. The Harry Potter series has sold an estimated 400 million copies worldwide and it has also been published in more than 64 languages.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the last of the seven part series by J.K Rowling

For the authorized translated versions, the publishers even got some of the world’s best translators to work on it.

However on the flipside, as translation work could only start after the English version is released, many of the Harry Potter fans world-wide became impatient as the wait was way too long.

Some had to make do with the English version and the others who did not have an adequate grasp of the English language had to settle for the illegally translated versions.

Such demands had led to a widespread movement of illegal translations, which has allowed fans to get their hands on the book way before the official version is even ready.

The illegal translators worked in groups in order to speed up the process; the copies were either uploaded on the internet or published and sold off to unsuspecting fans who actually thought they were the official versions.

Some of these translators even went to the extent of using free online translators and converting it into the language of their choice.

Depending on the language, the translations were often full or errors and inconsistency, it might even look like a joke considering the amount of mistakes made and the hastiness of the translation process.

For the true Harry Potter fans, it would be disheartening to see JK Rowling’s masterpiece being tarnished by these illegal translations, as the context from the original story would have surely been lost with such a sloppy translation process.

As a good translation requires a great deal of effort coupled with a meticulous proofreading process, an advice for true fans of Harry Potter would be to wait patiently for the authorized translated version of the book. This would ensure true enjoyment of the story as its true context would be appropriately preserved.

Source [Wikipedia]

Posted in Global Content Management | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Why Succeeding on the 1st attempt is so important when Venturing Overseas

Posted on December 3, 2010 by admin

You see the potential of your business doing well in an overseas market, and are gearing up for expansion plans. First impressions definitely count and second chances, if any, are extremely rare. Thus, it is important to gain in-depth knowledge of the market you are entering, particularly, the preferences and taboos of the local culture. This will help in facilitating a well formulated entry plan that can smoothen the path to success.

This presentation will explain the reasons why succeeding on the first attempt is so important when you are venturing overseas.

Posted in Global Content Management | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

10 Must Have Mobile Applications for your Business Needs

Posted on November 19, 2010 by admin

The prevalence of Mobile applications has massively altered our daily routine, with their convenience and usability. They also offer extensive support to the business executive. Below are ten apps which help to maintain productivity on-the-go.

1. Insight
Platform(s) : iPhone
Insight (formerly known as Encamp) is an iPhone app for the highly popular project management tool, Basecamp. With its simple user interface, it allows you to get a quick status of their projects, assign and delegate tasks. Interaction between project members is facilitated on Writeboards where they can post messages and comments. Insight further helps you to organize email and contact details of colleagues and clients so you can reach them immediately wherever you are.

2. Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite
Platform(s): Android, Symbian, BlackBerry, iPhone, and webOS
You can now do work on the go with this app. The Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite lets you view, edit and format your Microsoft Word and Excel documents on the go. It can also be integrated file storing apps like Dropbox. This makes it easy for you to share your work with others and update common folders with your revisions.

3. Dropbox
Platform(s): Android, Blackberry, iPhone and iPad
With Dropbox, you can sync files among Windows, Mac or Linux machines through the web. Different levels of access can be assigned. Private subfolders that sync among your own computers can be created, as well as shared subfolders that sync to clients, partners and colleagues.

4. Salesforce Mobile
Platforms: Blackberry and iPhone
Salesforce Mobile is a Customer Relationship Management system that provides you with instant access to business and client data wherever you are. This means you can quickly look up account activity before important calls or meetings. The app further allows you to respond immediately to sales leads and customer requests even when you are on the road.

5. Contact Hero
Platforms: Blackberry and iPhone
This nifty app allows you to collect, merge, organize and manage all your contacts from Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo etc. in one place. Emails can be scheduled to go out to your contacts any time in the future. In addition, you can link contacts in your phonebook to calls to make and keep a complete contact history of notes, calls and messages. If you missed out on any calls, the system will prompt you with a reminder.  Contacts can be identified and stored in a number of ways in this system, including by numbers, colorful icons and country flags.

6. Timewerks
Platform(s): iPhone
Timewerks is a time-tracking and invoicing app. It is especially useful for freelancers, consultants, lawyers, salespeople, contractors and anyone who needs to track time, materials and send invoices. With Timewerks, you can manage and organize the time you spend on various projects and get detailed reports. Complex invoices can also be generated easily, saving a lot of hassle for people who would rather spend more time on work than administrative tasks.

7. LinkedIn
Platform(s) : Blackberry, iPhone and Palm Pre
Termed as the Facebook for business professionals, LinkedIn had more than 80 million registered users, spanning more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. Be it looking for a job or a new business opportunity, LinkedIn is the perfect social media platform to get you connected with industrial experts and business professionals all over the world.

8. Econtact Pro
Platform(s): iPhone
Unlike most business card scanners, Econtact Pro does not rely on text recognition software but manual transcription by another person. Thus, 100% accuracy is guaranteed. The service is also quick and convenient. All you need to do is to snap a photo of the card on your iPhone and send it to the service. Your contacts will be updated overnight. At the cost of $0.10 – $0.25 to transcribe each business card, Econtact Pro offers good value-for-money for its service.

9. QuickVoice Pro
Platform(s): iPhone and iPad
With QuickVoice Pro, you can now send emails to others using your voice. The app further allows you to record voice memos, entire lectures and multi-session seminars.

10. FlightTrack Pro
Platform(s): Android, iPhone and iPad
Delayed flights, botched reservations and annoying last minute gate changes are part of business travel. This app tracks your flights worldwide to keep you on top of all these. Forward your airline confirmation to the FlightTrack Pro service and your flight itinerary will automatically appear in your app. With over 5000 airports listed and over 1400 airlines tracked, information on flight arrivals and delays, departure gate numbers, airport closures, and weather forecast is literally available at your fingertips. In case your flight is cancelled, the app can suggest alternative schedules as well.

Posted in Social Media, Web and Technology | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment