Today’s Monday Morning Quote comes from a writer whose bag of tricks contains sins, secrets and, more likely than not, death. With a loyal fan base and readers around the world, most would agree that Stephen King certainly knows how to spin a haunting tale.

People want to know why I do this, why I write such gross stuff. I like to tell them I have the heart of a small boy…and I keep it in a jar on my desk. - Stephen King

Well known for his literary talent and tendency to intertwine horror and storytelling, Stephen King published his first professional piece in 1967 en route to getting a job as an English teacher. After becoming employed at a public high school in 1971, King began devoting evenings and weekends to writing, producing short stories and developing novels during that time. Two years later, he would publish his first novel, Carrie. The earnings from Carrie provided him with enough resources to leave teaching and pursue writing full-time. Interestingly enough, King was supposedly so frustrated with the novel’s progress that he threw it out before its completion. It was his wife, Tabitha, who rescued the novel and encouraged King to continue with it.

Strap on your favorite running shoes, flex those typing fingers, and tune into the Language Race hosted by TermWiki.com!

To briefly summarize for those who are unfamiliar with it, TermWiki is a cloud-based terminology management and multilingual social learning platform. Launched just last year, it is the localization industry’s first online collaborative terminology management and translation system, allowing users to import, export, edit, translate, and track terms, definitions, and translations—all in more than 100 languages. All the terms in TermWiki are human-inputted and human-reviewed, providing users with a community checks and balances system. The more terms you enter, the more your name is circulated around the site, but be aware that inappropriate or irrelevant contributions will be targeted by moderators and other users to ensure that the quality of data in TermWiki is maintained.

Ever have one of those drag-your-feet, head-splitting, rain-cloud-over-your-head days? Well, cheer up, chap! You’re just in time for Wacky Word Wednesday, a weekly celebration of the wackiest and most interesting words from around the world!

Today’s wacky word definition from TermWiki.com:

mul·li·grubs [muhl-i-grhbz] -noun sullen or sulky behavior; colic; grumpiness

Most research suggests mulligrubs originated in the southern U.S., derived from megrim, which emerged sometime in the fourteenth century. In its singular form, megrim means dizziness, vertigo, or migraine; the plural form (megrims) takes on the meaning low spirits. The definition for mulligrubs would later be expanded to include a stomachache or colic.

Hi everyone! If you were around last week, today’s post is the English translation of Carmen’s response to studying and working in the translation and interpretation sector.  We’re expanding the discussion to give all of our English readers a chance to participate, so don’t forget to let us know what you think!

As I read the article that Eugenia recommended to us last week, it was almost like going back in time. Coincidentally, I also started a degree in Translation and Interpreting Studies in autumn 2005 and could have been one of the students surveyed in Professor Calvo’s study, in which she asked various first year students from different universities in Spain about their choice to study translation and interpretation.

Monday is upon us once again, and we’re back with another Monday Morning Quote from a tall, dark and handsome crooner of epic proportions:

There’s no half-singing in the shower, you’re either a rock star or an opera diva. - Josh Groban Singer-songwriter sensation/worldwide heartbreaker.

For those not familiar with Josh Groban, most likely there will be someone in your social circles that is. Singer-songwriter Josh Groban has created five albums to date; the sales from his fourth album, “Noël”, catapulted him to becoming the Best Selling Artist of 2007 in the US, with 3.7 million copies sold in three months. In 2002, he was also the most requested guest for the Oprah Winfrey Show, finally making an appearance in July of that year. Groban describes himself as “a tenor in training”, his voice hovering somewhere between a tenor and a baritone. His latest album “Illuminations” was release in November of last year.

Guest blog entry by Carmen, Translator for EU Spanish at CSOFT

Last week, when we congratulated the Juvenes Translatores winners, commenter and Translation Studies teacher, Eugenia, kindly shared an article about why students in Spain are choosing Translation Studies over others areas of study. Word got around, and the article was passed to Carmen, our fabulous in-house Spanish-English translating fashionista. Realizing how relevant the article was to her own experiences, Carmen decided to share her thoughts on the situation:

Leer el artículo que Eugenia nos recomendó la semana pasada ha sido casi como hacer un viaje en el tiempo. Casualmente, yo también empecé la carrera de Traducción e Interpretación en otoño de 2005 y podría haber sido una de las estudiantes encuestadas en el estudio de la profesora Calvo. Seis años después, ya no me acordaba de lo que era una nota de corte y prácticamente había olvidado también los motivos que me llevaron a escoger la carrera de Traducción e Interpretación en primer lugar. Conforme iba leyendo, todos estos recuerdos han vuelto de golpe. Me identifico por completo con esos estudiantes de primer año que no sabían muy bien lo que querían, pero que se sentían atraídos por la perspectiva de viajar al extranjero, conocer gente de todo el mundo, y que tenían siempre la palabra “ONU” rondándoles la cabeza.

Have you been feeling a bit under the weather? Want to clear your head of all that fog? Well, you’re just in time for today’s fog-tastic Wacky Word Wednesday, a weekly celebration of the wackiest and most interesting words from around the world!

The definition from TermWiki.com:

pog·o·nip [pog-uh-nip] -noun a dense fog containing ice particles

According to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, the first known use of pogonip was in 1865. Most sources concur that the etymology of this word comes from the Shoshone Native American tribe, which Sacagawea happened to be a member of. The Shoshone word that pogonip is derived from, payinappih, means “cloud”.

Tuesday Tips is back once again with tips on localization and translation from different members of the CSOFT family. Today, our chief quality control guru, James, will shed some light on how quality is influenced by communication, customization, and massages (yes, that’s right, massages).

In certain parts of the world, today is recognized as a celebration of love. To continue with this theme, today’s Monday Morning Quote comes in the form of sappy poetry:

Understand, I’ll slip quietly away from the noisy crowd when I see the pale stars rising, blooming, over the oaks. I’ll pursue solitary pathways through the pale twilit meadows, with only this one dream: You come too. - Rainer Maria Rilke Poet and supporter of clandestine, midnight rendezvous

Born in Prague, Bohemia (today considered the Czech Republic), Rainer Maria Rilke is recognized for emphasizing physical imagery within his poems.

In his early years, his mother, still mourning the lost of her firstborn daughter, would dress Rilke up in girl’s clothing and refer to him as Sophia until he was five years old. He experienced his parents’ divorce when he was nine, and in 1891, he was discharged from military school due to lifelong health problems. Nonetheless, he would later become one of the greatest lyrically-rich poets of the German language.

The translation and interpretation services industry has witnessed great development and growth in recent years. With an ever-growing focus on globalization in the business world, Common Sense Advisory, a independent US-based research firm, has calculated that the language services market has increased by an average annual rate of 13.15%, for a total spend of over $23 billion USD in 2009 alone. (You can read more about the size and condition of the language services market in their report, “The Language Services Market: 2010″.)

In particular, this focus can be observed in newly designed translation and interpretation programs at universities and colleges worldwide, including the recent commencement of a Middlebury-Monterey Institute of International Studies partnership. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 22 percent employment increase for translators and interpreters between 2008 and 2018. In October of 2010, tcworld also highlighted advantages of translation and interpretation careers and provided solid reasons on how the overall language services industry is becoming more vital in both business and everyday exchanges.

Understanding this, we would like to take the opportunity to extend our congratulations to those hardworking, linguistically-motivated student winners of the 2010 Juvenes Translatores (‘Young Translators’) Contest.