Localization Today

Belsat, a Poland-based television channel that primarily broadcasts news in Polish, Russian, Belarusian, and English has announced that it is adding Ukrainian to its slate of languages this week, in a response to the fighting in Ukraine.

Translit, an Ireland-based language service provider (LSP), has announced that it will be donating its services to the roughly 100,000 Ukrainian refugees expected to enter Ireland over the next few months.

The recent passage of House Bill 22 (HB 22) on March 1 will allow New Mexico to pinpoint weak spots in the state’s language access services, in an effort to continue improving them. The bill will go into effect beginning July 1.

When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Maria Malykhina and her colleagues at Technolex Translation Studio were determined to continue their work by all means. MultiLingual staff writer Stefan Huyghe spoke with Maria this week, who’s a localization production manager based in Ukraine.  

The Russian government has threatened to ban the Russian-language Wikipedia site for its inclusion of “illegally distributed information” about the ongoing war in Ukraine on its page.

Last night, MultiLingual Live had the exciting opportunity to host Kateryna Rietz-Rakul in conversation, the Ukrainian interpreter who went viral this week on social media after breaking into tears while interpreting a press conference by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The result was a revealing, charming, and open discussion that sheds new light on the role of interpreters during wartime. 

The local government of Ottawa’s French Language Services (FLS) branch saw an increased number of complaints regarding French language services in 2021, according to a report the branch compiled last week.

A second Ukrainian interpreter, this time translating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s European Parliament address into English, went viral on social media today after the powerful words left him in tears.

Of all the problems facing the world, there are few more pressing than climate change. Fortunately, language-industry companies are stepping up to make a difference. The latest to join that peer group is Lokalise, which announced in February that it was shifting its business operations to achieve carbon neutrality. 

In a press conference given by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today, the Ukrainian-German interpreter couldn’t help but break into tears on live TV at the end of the president’s speech.