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By tapping into next generation web-based technologies, Avantpage has increased our online capabilities and streamlined our translation processes. Navigation, customization, communication - it's all easier, faster, and more efficient than ever before. We've designed three powerful software applications - AvantFlow, AvantMemory, and AvantForum - to work cohesively and provide a more productive, user-friendly online translation environment. What can you expect to gain from putting these tools to use? For starters, you'll have greater control over all your translation projects, from initial quote to final delivery. You'll gain instant online access to all aspects of a project's progress, which makes monitoring and tracking that much easier. These tools give you the freedom to spend less time on administrative tasks, troubleshooting and backtracking - and more time overseeing the quality, accuracy, consistency and timelines of the projects themselves. AvantFlow allows you to manage, organize, and keep track of all your translation projects AvantFlow is our signature online project management system, now upgraded and revised to be more practical and accessible than ever before. Easier site navigation, improved access to resources and faster response times are just some of the latest improvements. Use AvantFlow to request quotes, instantly check project status, give detailed project instructions, upload source files, assign due dates and deadlines, and much more. AvantMemory lets you access and manage your translation assets more easily and effectively AvantMemory is a web-based system that streamlines the translation process, providing greater client control. AvantMemory includes customized linguistic glossaries that save specific terminology and style preferences; allows multiple vendors to work with the same assets in real time; allows linguistic team members to work concurrently; and lets work on a project proceed with multiple languages simultaneously. AvantForum facilitates communication and collaboration in real time between project stakeholders Through AvantForum, all communication relating to a specific project is captured in one central online location. All project stakeholders have instant access to the same information, including preferences and requirements, online conversations, emails, meeting notes and more. AvantForum minimizes the possibility of critical information "slipping through the cracks," while maximizing client/translation team collaboration and effectiveness. Through the use of these next generation technologies, we'll be able to focus all of our efforts on providing exceptional translation and language services. And you will be able to keep your translation projects moving forward smoothly - on target, on time and under budget. Call us today for a free demo of any of these technologies at 877-ANY-LANG or [email protected].

Avantpage has agreed to act as a non-exclusive agent for sales of XTM Cloud computing solutions to companies and organizations in North and Central America. Avantpage is pleased to have this opportunity to work with XTM International to reach new markets. Click here for more information.

The Davis Bridge Educational Foundation is an organization devoted to promoting educational opportunities for all Davis, California students, regardless of income level, race, or ethnicity. The Davis Bridge works with low-income, under-achieving Davis students in grades K-12. The majority of students in Davis who fit this description are Chicana/o Latina/o students. However, the Bridge serves Anglo, Asian, East Asian, and African/African-American children as well. Bridge volunteers provide tutoring, computer access, school supplies, and after-school snacks to students at four after-school homework clubs in the Davis area. The Davis Bridge Foundation hopes to make college and academic success a realistic goal for these children by making them feel valued, showing them they have the power to achieve, and giving them the academic tools and support system to do so. Avantpage and CEO Dr. Luis Miguel have been involved with the Davis Bridge Foundation since 2004, offering IT support, website design/hosting and email support. Avantpage provides all Spanish translations for the Bridge, and has donated several computer systems to them as well. In addition, Dr. Miguel was President of the Davis Bridge Foundation Board from 2004 to 2010. The Davis Bridge is a cause close to Dr. Miguel's heart, and he believes that local initiatives such as the Davis Bridge can have a significant impact on communities and their members. According to Dr. Miguel, "I see education, and all it carries with it, as the most important determinant of success for young people. My kids are just like many of the kids served by the Davis Bridge, with education being the main differentiator." To find out more about Davis Bridge, its mission, and how you can contribute, go to www.davisbridge.org or contact Janet Boulware, Executive Director and Founder, by e-mail at [email protected] or call (530) 574-2804.

As a translation company, we work closely with many different ethnic groups. In this new series, we'd like you to join us as we take a closer look at some of these groups residing in the United States. We'll focus on a different group each month, and briefly explore their culture, languages and demographics. To kick off our series, we'd like to start with Filipino Americans. Filipino Americans are the second-largest Asian American group in the United States, with 3.1 million individuals residing here, according to the 2007 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census. Hawaii, California, New York, New Jersey, Washington, Illinois, Texas , Florida, Virginia and Nevada are the states with the largest Filipino populations. While some Filipinos emigrated to the United States seeking political freedom, many more came hoping to establish a better life with more opportunities for themselves and their families. Filipino Americans may speak Tagalog, Ilokano, Spanish, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Visayan languages, Bikolano, and other Philippine languages at home. However, because English is one of the Philippines' official languages, many Filipino Americans are fluent English-speakers as well. In the Philippines, English is used in the legal system as well as in higher education. Filipino, based on Tagalog, is the other official standardized language of the Philippines.  In the United States, Tagalog is the fifth most-spoken language, with over 1.2 million speakers. Fluency in the languages of the Philippines has declined with second and third-generation Filipino Americans, creating a language barrier between older and younger generations. Filipino Americans tend to have a strong median household income. Many have gravitated towards the healthcare industry, working as nurses, doctors, dentists and healthcare support staff. Filipino Americans have a high educational attainment rate, with 47.9% of all Filipino Americans over the age of 25 possessing a Bachelor's degree. Filipino Americans enjoy a strong sense of family and community. Festivals and community events celebrating Filipino culture are extremely important to Filipino Americans, with fiestas, street festivals, parades and feasts bringing generations together to celebrate their heritage and culture.

This month's Language Spotlight focuses on Khmer. We've been getting more requests for this language lately, and we thought it would be an interesting language to explore in more detail. Khmer is the official language of Cambodia. It is the second most widely spoken Austroasiatic language spoken after Vietnamese. Khmer is spoken in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, the United States, France and Australia. There are a total of about 8 million Khmer speakers worldwide, and in the United States, there are an estimated 190,000 Khmer speakers. The Khmer language is written in Khmer script, using the Khmer alphabet, which closely resembles the Thai and Lao alphabets. There are also influences from Sanskrit, Pali, French and Chinese in the Khmer language. The Khmer script has symbols for 33 consonants, 24 dependent vowels, 12 independent vowels and several diacritic symbols. Many words have more than one accepted spelling. There are no spaces between words in the written language, only at the end of sentences or phrases. The history of modern Cambodia is a tumultuous one. In 1887 Cambodia became part of French Indochina, but following Japanese occupation during WWII, Cambodia gained full independence from France in 1953. In 1975, Communist Khmer Rouge forces captured Phnom Penh and at least 1.5 million Cambodians died of execution, forced hardships or starvation under the new regime headed by Pol Pot. In 1978, the Vietnamese invaded and drove the Khmer Rouge into the countryside. This began a 10-year Vietnamese occupation, and touched off 13 years of civil war. The 1991 Paris Peace Accords sought to establish democratic elections and a ceasefire, but it was not until 1999 that Khmer Rouge forces surrendered. Today, Cambodia's government is a multiparty democracy under a constitutional monarchy, and national elections are generally peaceful. Cambodia's two main economic forces are textiles and tourism. This beautiful, lush country is rich with stunning ancient temple ruins, picturesque villages, seaside resorts, architecturally dazzling cities and gorgeous natural beauty. Tourism is growing, and many foreigners have made Cambodia an exciting and unusual travel destination. Avantpage's Khmer translation experts are fully equipped to provide clients with high-quality, expert translation for a variety of needs - healthcare, government, financial and more. For information about Khmer/Cambodian translation, click here.

Localization is the process through which businesses customize their products, services and Internet presence to reflect differences in distinct markets - for example, when branching out to reach non-English-speaking or international markets. Localization involves much more than just translation. Graphic design, use of color, currency, symbols, writing style and cultural references are just a few examples of elements that come into play when preparing to localize. Why localize? In today's marketplace, the better question would be "why not?" As global markets grows ever more accessible, and more non-English speakers gain buying power and online acumen, localization represents the future of successful businesses. Localizing your online business presence allows you to tap into previously inaccessible markets, shows that you are culturally and ethically sensitive to customer needs, and gives you a leg up on your competitors. Localization also polishes your corporate image, and increases your visibility as a trusted provider of products and services. Avantpage specializes in helping businesses develop and execute a localization strategy that reflects their specific needs, markets and products. For more information on how Avantpage can help you localize your website, download our new localization guide, AvantWeb: Essentials of Web Localization. Inside, you'll discover answers to all your questions about the localization process: how it works, what's involved, what you need to provide, and how the workflow will proceed. To find out more about  localization and how Avantpage can help, call 877-ANY-LANG or email today!

There are approximately 47 million people in the United States who speak a language other than English. Effective communication is critical to safe, quality health care, yet many health care organizations fall short when it comes to caring for Limited English Proficient (LEP) patients. According to a study conducted by the International Journal for Quality in Health Care, language barriers in hospitals were shown to increase risks to patient safety. Data was collected on adverse events affecting both LEP and English-speaking patients. The study showed that when adverse events were tracked in both groups, 49.1% of those experienced by LEP patients involved physical harm, while only 29.5% of adverse events experienced by English-speaking patients did. Of the patients who experienced physical harm, 46.8 % of LEP patients were rated at levels of "moderate temporary harm to death" while only 24.4% of the English speakers had the same harm ratings. 52.4% of the LEP patients' adverse events were related to communication errors, while 35.9% of the English speakers were communication-related. To rectify this situation, the Joint Commission has created new communication and language standards for health care organizations that will go into effect in January 2011. Hospitals seeking accreditation will need to comply with these new standards, which include providing proficient in-person or phone interpreters; ensuring that written documentation (forms, instructions, signage, etc.) is properly translated into appropriate languages; and that caregivers and health professionals are trained in culturally sensitive communication among different ethnic groups. To find out more about  the Joint Commission and the standards, call 877-ANY-LANG or email today!

Last month, I read a fascinating article in The New York Times* about the discovery of a new language, spoken by a remote group of about 1,000 people in India. There are approximately 7,000 recorded languages in the world, yet many are rapidly disappearing. On an expedition to record and preserve endangered languages, a team of linguists traveled to a remote area of Northeastern India, in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains. They were interested in the Aka language, spoken by approximately 6 to 10 thousand tribal villagers. These people live near the borders of China, Tibet and Burma, and subsist on hunting and farming, raising pigs and growing rice and barley. Small villages consist of bamboo houses set on stilts. In the tiny mountain village of Kichang, the linguists heard villagers speaking a language that did not sound like Aka. The new language was Koro, with words, syntax and sounds that were entirely different from Aka. Although the Koro speakers live in close proximity to the Aka speakers, they had a completely different language, which had never before been recorded or identified. Researchers are not entirely sure how Koro has survived as a language, as its speakers presently number only about 800 to 1,000. Why is it important to preserve languages that are in danger of becoming "extinct"? Why should we attempt to document and recognize them, when they are spoken by so few people? Language represents a people's history, its culture, its place in the world, and sometimes, its future. It is critical that these languages are preserved, recorded, and studied, for understanding a culture's language is how we eventually understand the people as well ... how they think, how they behave, how their society is structured, how they use and process information. By documenting and attempting to understand threatened languages, we can explore a small glimpse of living history. * "Hunting One Language, Stumbling Upon Another" John Noble Wilford, The New York Times, October 11, 2010

There are over 1 billion people in the world who speak some form of Chinese. The most popular Chinese spoken languages are Mandarin (the official language of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China), Cantonese, Wu, and Min. No matter what spoken language or dialect is used, the Chinese have only two systems to represent their language in written form. Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese are the two writing systems used by those who read, write and speak Chinese. Because of cultural, historical and political reasons, written text in China evolved into two different and separate writing methods. While both writing systems share the same grammatical structure and are essentially the same language, they are not interchangeable. Traditional Chinese has been in use since the 5th century, A.D. It uses about 13,000 characters, and some of them are highly complex. Because Traditional Chinese was so difficult to learn, many, many Chinese remained illiterate. The Simplified Chinese writing system, which uses about 8,000 simplified characters, was introduced by the Chinese government as an official writing language in 1949 in order to combat the problem of illiteracy in China. Simplified Chinese text has fewer strokes per character and fewer characters in use. It is easier to write and understand. Simplified Chinese is used in mainland China and Singapore, and Traditional Chinese is used primarily in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and among the Chinese speaking population of Malaysia. Chinese speakers in the United States generally use Traditional Chinese as well. Although Traditional Chinese is more complicated, it allows for more precise pronunciation, and more distinctiveness and legibility between characters. When translating documents into Chinese, translators must be aware of which system their audience uses, and sometimes must translate the document into both. Here are some examples of Traditional Chinese characters in black, and their simplified counterparts in red*: *Omniglot.com, The Guide to Languages, Alphabets and Other Writing Systems

In the wake of the recent federal health care regulations that went into effect on September 23rd, 2010, it's now more critical than ever to make sure that client health care information is distributed clearly and in a timely fashion. As more people become eligible for health care under the new laws, health care organizations and insurance providers will find that they are faced with greater challenges regarding language access. And as these reforms become part of our legal fabric, new and updated information must be prepared and distributed to everyone--proficient  English speakers, non-English speakers and  limited English speakers alike. How Can Avantpage help? Avantpage has highly qualified translation teams in place consisting of certified linguists who are trained specialists in threshold languages including Arabic, Armenian, Cambodian (Khmer), Chinese, Farsi, Hmong, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese. We offer the most competitive pricing in the translation industry, and our AvantFlow online translation management system, experienced project managers, translation memory tools, and experienced linguistic teams ensure that our translation services consistently exceed industry standards and requirements. To meet increased workloads due to the health care regulations, Avantpage has recently ramped up our translation capacities, improved processing volume and timelines, and enhanced our quality control and service abilities. Whatever our clients' needs, we will deliver--swiftly, accurately and within budgetary constraints. Questions, confusion and misunderstandings are bound to be common offshoots of these sweeping regulatory changes. It's critical that you have procedures in place - including accurate, high-quality translation services -to help alleviate frustration and ensure that your clients understand the wording of these changes, how they will be affected, and the timing of all the different reforms. Written materials, websites and electronic correspondence must all be kept current, reflecting new information as it is made available by the government. We're Committed to Keeping You Informed Avantpage is scheduled to attend a number of important conferences that will address these latest issues. Please stop by and visit us at any of these conferences if you're available. We'd love to meet with you, and outline what we're doing to keep our clients informed of these critical developments in the health care field. We plan to report back with our impressions, observations and perspectives after these shows, so we will be in contact with you then.

Did you know that from September 15th through October 15th, America celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month? This observation began in 1968 as a celebratory week under President Lyndon B. Johnson, and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period. This month-long celebration marks a way for Americans to honor the contributions, culture and history of U.S. citizens whose ancestors hail from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. September 15th was chosen as the start of this celebration because this date is the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico declared its independence on September 16, and Chile on September 17. Throughout the country, people of Hispanic descent will be celebrating this year's theme:  Heritage, Diversity, Integrity and Honor:  The Renewed Hope of America (Herencia, Diversidad, Integridad y Honor: La Renovada Esperanza de America). Classrooms, museums, art galleries, government programs, and the media will offer a chance to explore Hispanic history, culture, art, literature, humanitarian contributions and more. The term Hispanic, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, refers to Spanish-speaking people in the United States of any race. On the 2000 Census form, more than 35 million people identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino. Population growth  trends show that by 2050, Latino populations are expected nearly to triple. In California, the Hispanic population is expected to grow by 16.5 million people in the next 40 years. Read more about how Spanish translation can help you reach these prospective buyers in their own language, on their own terms, or call  877-ANY-LANG or email today!

Where do different languages come from? Who speaks them? How are they unique? How do they change and evolve over time, becoming the "modern" languages spoken and written today? These are just some of the ideas we'll explore in our new blog topic: Language Spotlight.  We've chosen Hmong as our first language, and if you have any suggestions for subsequent languages you'd like to see in the spotlight, please let us know! The Hmong ("mung") are an Asian tribal culture who have lived primarily in the countries of Laos, China, Vietnam and Thailand. After fighting for the United States in the Vietnam War, many Hmong were forced to flee their Southeast Asian homeland, and chose to settle in America to avoid oppression and persecution in Asia. There are approximately 200,000 Hmong living in the United States, and their numbers are concentrated in Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and California. The total number of Hmong speakers worldwide is estimated to be about four million, including those in America. Did you know that for generations the Hmong had no written language? There were no written texts, no alphabet, and knowledge and culture were passed from generation to generation through spoken language only, often in the form of folktales and song. In the 1950s, Western missionaries worked with Hmong advisors to develop a way to write Hmong words using the letters from the French, English and German languages. This was called the Romanized Popular Alphabet, or RMA. The idea behind this was to be able to create a written Hmong language that used common Western letters, without having to rely on a lot of elaborate characters. Today, the RMA is the most widely used writing system for Hmong. The two major dialects spoken by Hmong Americans are known as White and Green. While mutually understandable, these two dialects differ somewhat in both lexicon and phonology. The Hmong language is monosyllabic, tonal, with a variety of dialects. Hmong shares some characteristics with several other Asian languages, including Chinese and Vietnamese. For information about Hmong translation, click here.