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Spotlight On Texas

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 05:47:21 -0400

Texas is the second most populous State in the United States of America. The State has an area of 268,820 square miles and is the size of France
Texas has an international border with Mexico and a State border with the States of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana
Texas has a population of 16 million cattles
The Texas flower is the bluebonnet and the State’s bird is the Mockingbird
More land is farmed in Texas than in any other State
In Texas, it is illegal to milk another person’s cow
Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth largest in the United States
The State of Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its status as a former independent republic. The Lone star can be found on the State flag
Spain was the first nation to claim the area of Texas. France had a colony in Texas and Mexico ruled over Texas until 1836
Lyndon B. Johnson, America’s 36th President, was a proud Texan as was America’s 34th President, Dwight D. Eisenhower

Spotlight On Uganda

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 02:01:32 -0400

A 2012 census revealed that Uganda’s population is an estimated 35 million inhabitants
84% of Ugandans are Christians
Uganda is surrounded by five bordering countries: Sudan, Kenya, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania
Uganda gained its independence from the British in 1962
While there are many languages spoken in Uganda, the official languages are English and Swahili
Agriculture accounts for 80% of Uganda’s income source with the majority of the income originating from the export of coffee
Kampala is Uganda’s capital and the nation’s largest city. While Kampala has a diverse population, the Baganda, a local ethnic group, make up over 60% of the city’s population
Uganda’s official motto is ‘For God and My Country’
Soccer is the national sport of Uganda. The Super League, which is the top division, includes 16 different teams
Lake Victoria runs through most of the southern part of Uganda. The lake is shared with Kenya and Tanzania
Uganda has a wide variety of wildlife that includes gorillas, chimpanzees and over 600 species of birds
Winston Churchill referred to Uganda as the “Pearl of Africa” given its variety of form and color

Spotlight On Moscow

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 02:40:41 -0400

Moscow, Russia’s capital, is the 2nd largest city in Europe and the 6th largest city in the world with an estimated population of 11 million inhabitants
According to a Forbes Magazine article from 2011, Moscow is the city with most billionaire residents in the world
The highest temperature ever recorded in Moscow was 39.0 °C. The lowest temperature ever recorded was −42.2 °C
It is believed that Moscow was founded on April 4th, 1147 as a wooden fortress
The historic Kremlin is located at the very heart of the city
On June of 2012, Moscow was ranked as the fourth most expensive city in the world by businessinsider website
Moscow is home to a cat theatre where all the actors that appear on stage are in fact cats
The Russian capital is world renowned for its subway stations some of which served as bomb shelters during the Second World War
The Russian State Library, located in Moscow, is the largest library in Europe and the second largest in the world
This year Moscow will celebrate its 865th birthday. Mazal Tov!

Spotlight On Estonia

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 04:20:00 -0400

The Estonians are descendants of the Baltic Finns who have inhabited the Baltic Sea region for thousands of years. That’s why the Estonian language is similar to Finnish.
According to the official visitestonia.com website, “the Estonian language is a nightmare to learn”.
Almost 50% of Estonia’s territory is covered by forests.
A recent census in Estonia revealed that the population size is approximately 1,294,236.
The capital, Tallinn, is also the largest city in Estonia with an estimated population of 400,000.
25% of Estonians are Russians.
Estonia ranks second in the world with an adult literacy rate of 99.8% (!)
One of the world’s first daily newspapers was published in Estonia in 1675.
The Mud in Estonia is especially exquisite and has been shown to contain large quantities of the female hormone, Estrogen, making it an essential tool in the battle for wrinkle free skin.
Given its flat terrain, Estonia is a popular destination for avid cross country skiers.

Spotlight on Zimbabwe

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 12:12:44 -0400

The name Zimbabwe comes from “Dzimba dza mabwe”, which means “great houses of stone”, in the Shona language.
The counrty has three official languages: English, Shona, and Ndebele.
AT 2952 meters high, Mount Inyangani is the highest point in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s adult literacy rate is approximately 90 — it is one of the highest in Africa.
The Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe are also known as Mosi-oa-Tunya, “the smoke that thunders”.
There are rock paintings — or “Bushman” paintings — across Zimbabwe that date back more than 5,000 years.
Zimbabwe gained independence on April 18, 1980.
About 50% of the population in the country comprises of Syncretics (part Christian, part indigenous beliefs), 25% are Christians and the rest follow indigenous beliefs.

Spotlight on Sweden

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 08:04:45 -0400

85% of Sweden’s 9.2 million people live in cities.
Sweden has the highest number of McDonalds restaurant per person in Europe.
A popular souvenir in Sweden is the road sign for moose-crossing. In fact, a large number of these signs are stolen from Swedish roads every year.
On Easter children dress up as witches and go trick-or-treating.
The government has proposed a total ban on fossil fuel driven vehicles by 2025.
About 13% of the Swedish population were born in a country other than Sweden.
Sweden has the longest life expectancy — over 80 years!
76% of mothers in Sweden work — this is the highest percentage of working mothers in the developed world.
Parents are allotted 13 months of paid maternity leave and the father is required to take at least 1 month of it.
Sweden granted women the right to vote in 1862. They were the first country in the world to do so.
After Spain and France, Sweden is the largest country by land mass in the EU.
As of 2004 you can pay your Swedish taxes by sending an SMS message from your cell phone.

Babylon Touch for Android: No More Embarrassing Lost in Translation Moments

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 04:23:30 -0400

We just launched the Babylon Touch for Android, and the positive reviews are pouring in. Here is one of our favorites:

My humiliation. Let me tell it to you:

A few years ago, I was doing one of those semester abroad things in Paris — I spoke “un peu français” — Because let’s be real: I came for the food, the fashion, and (of course) L’amour… I figured I’d pick up the language while strolling Champs Elysees or something but it sooo wasn’t a priority.

Oh, if only.

I remember sitting in a restaurant one night and staring blindly at the menu. I wanted to impress my date with my grasp of the language. (Nothing like candles, music and vin blanc to lower ones inhibitions. Ahem.) So, instead of following my usual M.O. and asking the waiter for help with the menu before ordering, I smiled confidently, and ordered “Le Cuisse de Grenouilles.”

And this is why I can never watch Disney’s Princess and the Frog. Like, ever. Because it makes me feel like a cannibal.

C’est. La. Vie.

So, this is why I’m digging the Babylon Touch for Android.

Here’s how it works: The Babylon Touch for Android enables you to get immediate translations for real world hard copy texts. Just launch the app, point your phone’s camera, and get an instant translation of any hard copy text, like a book, an article in a newspaper, an exhibit explanation board at a museum, or a menu.

Voila. I’ll never order Frog Legs again.

Merci Beaucoup, Babylon!

Babylon Touch - Latest Translation App for Android – Now available Free on Google Play

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 10:37:00 -0400

We just released the translation mobile applications suite in dozens of different languages, available for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone.

This is Babylon’s latest development, bringing precise translations to its users - Easily, everywhere and anytime.

“Babylon strives to keep up with the powerful forces of mobile technology innovations. The Babylon Touch is just another groundbreaking product, exemplifying one of the many ways of how Babylon continues to have an impact on communication, breaking down its barriers.” says Liat Sade - Sternberg, Babylon’s VP of Marketing & Sales.

“The future of communication is strongly being shaped by mobile technology. With technology changing so rapidly, Babylon is aware that it must stay ahead of the times by focusing its efforts on where the next generation of mobile phones will be headed”, explains Oren Azulay, Babylon’s VP of Products.

Whether you are trying to order food from a foreign menu or home reading a newspaper, simply open the application, point the embedded camera over the text and touch the term requested. Your Babylon Touch will enable term translations from any hard copy text directly to your Android.

Babylon Touch for Android is available for translation from 22 source languages ( Bulgarian, Catalan, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish with more to come) and offers translation into 35 different languages.

You can go to the virtual media room and see how it works: www.babylon.com/mediaroom/mobile

To check out all our apps, you can go here:
http://www.babylon.com/products/mobile/

And here’s a video showing the app in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWbT2q3ud-Q

We’d love to get your thoughts on our app. If you’ve tried it, leave us a comment or send us an email at sarah@babylon.com.

My Life in Translation: "Swimming in an ocean of intermediates"

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 04:02:06 -0400

By Lola Akinmade-Åkerström

As a Stockholm-based writer/photographer, Lola has contributed to many major travel publications such as National Geographic Traveler (both US & UK versions), BBC, CNN, Forbes, Vogue, Fodors.com, Travel + Leisure, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times’ LENS blog, United Airlines’ Hemispheres, AFAR, Matador Network, and many more - http://www.akinmade.com/articles.

I was shocked when I read the news off my husband’s iPhone.

A famous Swedish actor had died in a house fire on New Year’s Eve. Quickly turning to one of the other dinner guests, I tried explaining to her what I’d just read, expressing how horrendous it was.

She looked me straight in the eye for two seconds and burst out laughing.

I was confused. Why would someone’s death generate such forced laughter? She chuckled a bit more, nodded, and then turned away. We’d chatted freely earlier that evening – in Swedish - and the conversation had flowed both ways.

This time felt different, and it was then I realized she hadn’t understood a word I had said to her, and she felt too polite to say she hadn’t grasped it. If I’d been purely green, she might have stopped me or switched to English.

But she let me go on.

This wasn’t the first time I’d gone on and on in Swedish to a local only to have them respond incorrectly. They usually just pick out a few keywords, try to form the context of what I was explaining in their minds, and formulate incorrect answers.

Again, if I’d been an absolute beginner, they probably would have asked me to repeat or switched to English.

I’d finally moved into the class of intermediates – language learners whose hands weren’t being held anymore. We were now in the sink-or-swim category; that nebulous never-ending transition period one seems to find themselves in forever.

A transition period I now call the plight of the immediate speaker.

Moving through the beginning stages of Swedish was like hopping a cross-country flight from Los Angeles to New York. Sure, there were a few turbulent bumps along the way but it was a relatively smooth experience. I was then left standing on the shores of the Eastern US about to swim across the intermediate Atlantic Ocean towards Scandinavia. My goal being to land on fluent shores of Sweden before trekking upwards as a “master” to Stockholm and finally mastering the language.

These are the four levels of language learning I’ve geographically mapped out for myself. And now, I am right in the middle of the Atlantic, swimming as best as I can towards fluency along Sweden’s shores.

Sometimes, the waves carry me backwards. Sometimes, I swim past other intermediates.

Often times when a fellow intermediate pulls out an advanced word in class, I liken it to an unexpected swimming stroke. “That’s new?!,” I’d say to myself as rogue waves of stagnancy mentally push me backwards.

Never one to overestimate my Swedish-speaking skills, I know it’s going to take some time to reach fluency the way I know it needs to be reached. I may very well take a detour over to Greenland or Iceland and hang out there for awhile – plateaued in my speaking skills while mixing and matching words I already know to keep the conversation going on deeper levels.

And when I’m ready, I’ll jump back in again and continue my swim towards Sweden’s shores, finally becoming fluent. This means speaking without those awkward pauses of trying to collect my thoughts and mentally translating them from English. Completing that final trek towards mastery remains my ultimate goal, and this goal could take decades.

Right now, I need to keep treading water to stay afloat and just take it one stroke at a time.

Spotlight on Israel

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 08:00:37 -0400

The Dead Sea is the lowest geographical place ON EARTH.
Israel has TWO official languages: Hebrew and Arabic.
The population in Israel was last recorded at 7.2 million people: 75.8 percent are Jews, 19.9 percent are Arabs (mostly Muslim) and the remaining 4.3 percent include Druze, Circassians, and others not classified by religion.
Israel is tiny: It is only 1/6 of 1% of the landmass of the Middle East.
Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.
The currency is the New Israeli Shekel. Currently, there are 382 NIS to the American dollar.
Israeli bank notes have brail on them so the blind can identify them.
Each of Israel’s holy sites is administered by its own religious authority, while protection against desecration and trespassing as well as free access are guaranteed by law.

Spotlight on Israel

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 07:49:37 -0400

The Dead Sea is the lowest geographical place ON EARTH.
Israel has TWO official languages: Hebrew and Arabic.
The population in Israel was last recorded at 7.2 million people: 75.8 percent are Jews, 19.9 percent are Arabs (mostly Muslim) and the remaining 4.3 percent include Druze, Circassians, and others not classified by religion.
Israel is tiny: It is only 1/6 of 1% of the landmass of the Middle East.
Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.
The currency is the New Israeli Shekel. Currently, there are 382 NIS to the American dollar.
Israeli bank notes have brail on them so the blind can identify them.
Each of Israel’s holy sites is administered by its own religious authority, while protection against desecration and trespassing as well as free access are guaranteed by law.

My Life in Translation: "585.1 miles in 28 hours."

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 04:14:00 -0400

By Dan Blank

585.1 miles in 28 hours. We did not make it but not for a lack of effort. I was visiting Cusco, Peru with a friend. We took the train and intended to take the bus home to Lima. We met up with one of her friends who convinced her to try to fly stand by. At the airport, a local was helping us secure a flight. He found one seat for my friend and assured her that I would be able to catch a flight on one of the next eight flights leaving to Lima. She flew home and every ½ hour for the next four hours, this guy would come back to tell me that there were no seats on the next flight. He came to me one more time and said that there were no seats on the last flight that day but an interesting proposition just came up. And so the adventure begins….

Just so happens, two guys from England who came to South America with the express purpose of visiting the Galapagos Islands were stuck in Cusco and needed to get back to Lima so they could catch a flight out to Ecuador by 5:00 PM the next day. They had 28 hours to get there and were prepared to hire a taxi to make it happen. They were ready to pay $500 (they each offered to pay $200 leaving me with a $100 tab; they needed me….I took Spanish 3 in high school an offer I could not refuse). The man who was assisting me earlier got up on a chair and announced to the whole airport that we were willing to pay the equivalent of 4 months wages to anyone who could guarantee that we would arrive on time. Needless to say, the whole airport descended upon us and we chose the best dressed two guys we saw.

By 1:00 PM, we were on our way in a 1990 Toyota Tercel l hatchback. There was no room to sit so I offered to sleep in the back with the luggage. Within 20 minutes, we stopped and put new tires on the car and off we went. The drivers were keenly aware that they had to maintain a pretty good rate of speed to make sure we would arrive on time to our destination. This meant some pretty crazy driving over the Andes; the steepest mountain range in the world. Throughout my whole trip to Peru I had this reoccurring nightmare of driving off a cliff so I decided that if I was to die, I would do it in my sleep. I got comfortable and I knocked off. I awoke briefly….just long enough to notice that one of the Englishmen was missing a couple of fingers on one of his hands….spooked; I went right back to sleep. The next time I awoke was to thunderous pounding on the bottom of the car. The drivers decided to take a short cut by driving over a dry, rocky riverbed. Minutes later, the car stopped and we were told that we could not go any further….the constant pounding of rocks to the bottom of the car broke the axel.

It was pitch black out and we were miles away from anything. The drivers told us to wait patiently and assured us that a bus would come by…then they disappeared. Sure enough, some time later a bus drove up and we got on. The bus was packed with locals. All I remember was that there was a man in the back of the bus with full blown glaucoma in both eyes, a woman with a bunch of chickens and only two seats available. The two Englishmen jumped into the seats and I chose to stand. Everything was peachy until we arrived at the next stop. I was excited to see three passengers exit thinking I was going to get a chance to sit down. That excitement quickly disappeared as twenty more folks got on. There was no room to stand and we were forced to sit in the isle; like puzzle pieces, our bodies fit into one another. Each time the bus came to a stop the toilet would overflow and the spillage would trickle down the center isle of the bus (right where we were sitting). The only way I knew how to deal with the issue was to knock off again.

Life was good….it always is when you are sleeping. That did not last long though. I am not sure what woke me up…it was either the bus bouncing from side to side or the lady screaming, “los ninos, los ninos”. We all thought the bus was teetering on the edge of the cliff. Nope! Apparently, we had a flat tire and the drivers thought it would be smart to jack up the bus with all the passengers inside. Everything was fine until the jack broke, causing the bus to bound from one side to the other. Realizing they had no way to fix the tire, they asked everyone to exit the bus and wait on the side of the road for another bus. We were at the top of the Andes and it was quite cold and I asked the driver if he could assist me in getting a sweater from my bag. He opened the baggage area and a body rolls out. YES! A freaking body rolled out. The backup driver was sleeping in the luggage area.

We waited on the side of the road for some time until another bus came by to pick us up. It was early in the morning as I remember the sun was shining. This bus had it own share of passengers and then they had to add everyone from our bus as well (seats on these buses are paid for in advance) so needless to say, I had to stand again. I must have been a pretty awful sight because an elderly couple offered me one of their seats. And…after the night I had….I took it! My English friends were seething. Me…I went back to sleep.

Next stop…Nasca. It must have been around 1:00 pm by this time. We were inching closer to Lima but we still had a long way to go (457 km to be exact). The Englishmen wanted off the bus and they decided to hire a taxi. And, desperate for my limited Spanish skills, they begged me to continue on with them. We managed to find someone that would agree to take us to Lima for $200. This time, I chose to sit in front. We were twenty minutes into the drive when I noticed our driver starting to blink real hard and shake his head from side to side to keep himself awake. “Esta cansado”? I asked. “Si, Estoy cansado”. The driver was tired from working the whole night. I asked if he wanted me to drive the rest of the way and he was glad to oblige. So, I drove the remainder of the trip back to Lima. When we were getting close to the city, I switched seats with the driver. My stop (Miraflores) was on the way to the airport but the Englishmen wanted to get to their flight as soon as possible. I agreed but they still missed their flight.

I finally arrived home around 7:00 pm. My friend was relieved to see that I was ok and all I wanted to do was to sit and rest. As soon as my butt hit the sofa, she told me to get up as we needed to go to the police station. She was so worried about me that she called my parents, the police and the embassy and told them I was missing. We called the police and I assured them I was fine but they said they needed to see me in person. All in all, I did not get back until about 9:00 pm. And then….I knocked off.

Babylon Supports Innovative Education

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 12:38:21 -0400

Last week, Babylon got to be part of an innovative educational opportunity. 13 groups of MBA students from all over the world came to Babylon to offer strategic insight and advice as part of the Sofaer International Case Competition (SICC.)

A panel of judge, including Babylon CEO and Director Alon Carmeli and Babylon Chairman of the Board Noam Lanir, listened to the various recommendations from these the future business leaders of the world.

And after careful deliberation, the panel selected the team from UCLA’s Anderson School of Business to win the top prize:

And yes, Babylon is taking some of their suggestions and recommendations into consideration!

Spotlight on Bahrain

Wed, 30 May 2012 04:41:38 -0400

Bahrain is an Archipelago in the Persian Gulf, between Qatar & Saudi
Saudi Arabia’s main land is linked to Bahrain by a bridge
Bahrain’s official language is Arabic.
The name Bahrain means “two seas”.
Bahrain was the first Arabian country to strike oil.
Bahrain has a national flag standing 318 by 555 feet high, it was once the largest national flag, however that record was broken by the Israeli Flag.
Bahrain is the smallest Arab nation.
The “Tree of Life” is a 400 year old tree standing alone in the Bahrain desert. To this day, it’s water source is unknown.

For a taste of Bahraini music, check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkqi32z_g4M

An Unfinished Room In Montevideo

Mon, 28 May 2012 04:56:00 -0400

Bu Charla Cooper

Charla Cooper is a 54 year old single mother and US citizen currently living in Montevideo, Uruguay, where she teaches yoga.

She graduated from Swarthmore College in the U.S.

While her Father and Grandfather were accomplished writers, this is her first published piece.

I like white walls. Whitewashed walls with nothing on them. Like in Greece and the pueblos blancos in Spain. White walls remind me of Nothing.

* * *

I moved to Montevideo, Uruguay with Christina, my beautiful one-and-one-half year old half-Fijian daughter, on Decemeber 1, 2008.

“Why Uruguay?” everyone asks.

I was living a life I loved in Sevilla, Spain, on Calle Betis. But after ChristIna arrived I found that I could no longer run my business —which requires calling the US during US business hours -(night time in Spain), and still take care of Christy.

I tried and tried, but either my work or Christina, or I suffered, and it usually wasn’t Christina. Or me.

We had to live in the same time zone as the United States for me to both have a livlihood and be present as I wanted for Christina.

I’d read about Montevideo and its low cost of living, good climate and beaches etc., but I’d never been there.

As we drove into the city on the Rambla I had one thousand dollars in cash and no other options for money. I looked left, at little Christy’s legs which stuck straight out about two inches past the edge of the taxi seat, and then the slivers of light dancing on the Rio Plata, and marveled at the instant of entering our new unknown life.

Montevideo intrigued me, disappointed me and inspired me. I missed the night life and flamenco beat of Sevilla. Montevideo was very soft, pleasant, and “tranquilo.”

During the next nine months Christina and I lived in seven different places in Montevideo. It was a time of sheer survival. All I could think about was where our next diapers, food or place to stay would come from. There is a certain freedom in this kind of poverty. When all you have to do is make sure you survive, you are stripped of the extraneous. No time for depression, resentments, or lists of things to buy. No choices. One foot in front of the other, grounded in the moment.

On several days I had to ask bakers for day old bread to feed Christina, still in her stroller. We were lent apartments, and ended up squatting in one. We got kicked out of a hotel once for not paying the bill on time.

The worst day was a sweltering, humid day we both had lice, but no money for the treatment, or for diapers. It was sticky and the lice were unbearable.

She would poop, and it would land on the floor, and I had to clean it up.

However despite all this, Christy was always her joyful, exuberant, and very outgoing self and I can honestly say that all of her needs, emotional and otherwise were always met.

At one and a half she was an extremely active child, running around constantly, touching everything and talking to everyone. Since her vocabulary consisted of “Mama,” and “Hola,” sometimes she would say “Hola,” to one person twenty or thirty times, poking them when they did not respond. However even when she bothered people, she always, without fail, made them smile.

Finally after nine months we were able to get our own place. It was “perfect”: A ground floor apartment directly facing the park in Villa Biarritz, just a few blocks from the Rambla and the beach.

The main room, the “living,” faced the park and had a large window’s view full of green foliage and children playing, and the “feria,” or farmer’s market on Saturdays and Tuesdays.

The apartment had two bedrooms and two bathrooms and, best of all, a huge tiled terrace in the back, which was as large as an apartment, and was really a backyard, with a “casita,” for our nanny Suzanna . Christina and her friends played in the backyard and in the park and everything we needed was within walking distance.

The apartment needed some cosmetic work. The fixtures were old and it needed painting. The walls were dingy and yellowed, with nails and faded rectangles where pictures had hung, and the paint was flaking in places.

We couldn’t afford to buy furniture or have our furniture from San Francisco shipped, so we lived in this virtually empty space with dingy walls and some white plastic lawn chairs and a fushia bean bag chair————Christina and me, and Suzanna and her 10-year -old-daughter, Camilla, their dog Lara, and usually Suzanna’s mother, “Abuela.”

My business began functioning again, Christina started her new school, Snoopy, and our lives began developing with the slow and comfortable pace of Montevideo.

But Christina was on fast forward. A photo of her each day, would show a different little person.

And there was nothing I could do to stop it.

There are times in our lives that we look back on and realize that they were charmed, because of love or unity. They become ‘the best times of our lives.’

This was the case with the three months I spent with my Grandmother and her primary care keeper, in her house on the water in Saint Augustine, at the end of her life. Nothing exceptional happened, but after she died, I realized that it was one of the best times of my life, and also for her.

But this time in our apartment in Montevideo was different because I realized as it was actually happening that it was special, recognizing it as a memory even as I was living it.

Christina developed an imaginary friend: “Senora Pluma.” Senora Pluma came at night and frequented Christina’s bedroom.

Sometimes she appeared during the day, but only Christina could see her, and Christina would hold long, extremely elaborate and emotional conversations with her.

Christina said her hair was violeta, but I imagined it long and glossy black.

When we asked Christina about something she was not supposed to do, like move the DVDs, or use Mommy’s make-up, she would say that she didn’t do it,

“Senora Pluma hizo.”

Senora Pluma became a household joke, with each of us adding our own associations. We would ask guests whether they knew Senora Pluma. One lady, touching her forefinger to her chin and thinking said ‘Oh yes. I recognize the name. ‘She is from Punta del Este, no?’

Sometimes Senora Pluma would leave behind wine bottles we found the next day, or messes in the kitchen. She wore several layers of sometimes diaphanous, long, flowing white, or off-white night things. Elegant Victorian things with eyelets and embroidery, although they were sometimes yellowed or tattered at the hems. She wrote at night with an old quill pen with a feather, which she dipped in ink and sometimes there were ink stains or purple wine stains on her gowns.

She travelled silently in the apartment because she could, standing, levitate about a foot and a half off the floor, and then with a movement of her right wrist backward, like a motorcycle driver giving gas, she would travel wherever she wanted through the apartment.

She had large triangular pointed teeth and nails, like “los monstros,” in “Where The Wild Things Are,” and her nails had chipped magenta polish on them.

I do not know about her toenails.

One day I decided to paint the “living” before my friend Debbie, who is Christina’s Godmother, came from the States. I bought the white paint, the brushes and the paint roller and started one Saturday. As I applied the bright white paint with the roller, covering the past, a swell of satisfaction rose inside me. It felt good and was exciting to create something new and clean and bright white.

* * *

We seek perfection with our painted white walls. The kind of perfection that maybe we can only attain in deep meditational states, nirvana, or in death.

* * *

Finishing the first wall I stood back, satisfied, but also realizing that this wall would never be perfect. There would always be an uneven edge, or a drop of paint splatter, or some unevenness in the paint.

I once told a spiritual advisor at Grace Cathedral that I liked things black and white, right and wrong, with crisp, sharp edges. She said “as you grow spiritually you will learn to love the rough and fuzzy edges, and embrace them.’”

After I finished the painting first section of the room, Suzanna did two walls very quickly.

On the following Sunday I was working on the last section of the room, watching the yellow wall slowly disappear, and I realized that in a sense I was creating a new room.

The old room, with the yellowed walls, would no longer exist.

Everything that had happened in that old room, was past and as such it did not exist.

That was the room In which Christina learned to count to ten, first in Spanish, and then in English. Where she learned the ABC’s in Spanish and in then English. Where they danced and played hide and seek.

Where we endured endless episodes of “Dora, Dora” and soundtracks of Christy and her friends from Snoopy singing….

This was the room in which Camilla celebrated her tenth birthday, with twenty one children stayed up till dawn with sleeping bags on the floor.

It was the room we shared dinners in, and Christy learned to use a fork.

Christy quit wearing diapers here, and renounced her blue pallela.

It was the room I taught yoga in weekly, cleansing our bodies and minds, and changing the very vibration and aura of the room.

It was the room where Suzanna’s sixteen year old half sister, who had seemingly unconsciously become pregnant, slept overnight on the couch, nursing her baby and leaving a slight sour milk smell in the room because of the the cloth she used to wipe the milk.

Abuela clipped her toenails here. Sitting on the sofa, crossing one bare foot on top of the other knee and letting the hard yellow pieces fall to the floor and then sweeping them up.

Abuela beat Lara with a rolled towel here, for sitting on the sofa. “No Lara,” slap;

“Lara No!” whack.

Christina’s white rabbit Hobbit left innumerous piles of CaCa pellets several times an hour in this room, until I realized that Abuela was literally living with the broom in her hand, sitting with it between her legs as she watched T.V. so she would be able to quickly sweep up Hobbit’s shit every few minutes. This wasn’t fair for Abuela, so Hobbit ‘found another home.’

This was the room that Paco the parrot stayed in his antique white wire cage with plaster roses, when my friend Iris needed to leave him with us.

As I was painting and approached the very last corner of the room, I hesitated.

I almost wanted to leave the last corner unfinished…

A part of me did not want to create a new room, and move on to a new time.

Would Senora Pluma still come to the new room I wondered?

Maybe she preferred the old yellowed walls.

If she did come, how much longer would she keep coming for?

…Senora Pluma with her long flowing gowns and frayed edges…

Babylon-Enterprise Goes Mobile: Now Available on Android, Blackberry and iPhone

Thu, 24 May 2012 02:47:00 -0400

SAN FRANCISCO, May 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ —

Babylon Enterprise, the world’s leading provider of single-click enterprise information access, is now available on all leading mobile platforms.

“In today’s business world, it is essential to have quick access to organizational information, whenever and wherever you are. The extension of Babylon-Enterprise to any mobile platform enables our customers to attain key information and data required for making critical business decisions on the go,” explains Liat Sade-Sternberg, Babylon’s VP of Marketing & Sales.

Babylon-Enterprise offers increased individual productivity. With a single click on any screen text, all relevant information is instantly delivered to the user, without the need to switch tools or applications.

Babylon-Enterprise is the perfect solution for complex systems. The solution provides a simplified approach for our customers to bring together the business processes and data from systems such as SharePoint and SalesForce, aggregated in a single view. Enabling users to quickly scan results and rapidly respond to shifting business needs and environments.

“Knowledge management and access to knowledge are critical to securing the company’s future. Babylon-Enterprise is playing a significant role at Schaeffler in that respect,” comments Paul Seren, Head of Knowledge Management, Schaeffler Group.

Among our customers are Petrobras, Alstom, SAP, Elbit, Schaeffler and more.

Babylon-Enterprise’s new innovative client is a secure, cloud-ready solution supporting the latest operating systems on the market.

For more information about Babylon Enterprise, visit enterprise.babylon.com

AboutBabylon.com

Babylon.com is a publicly traded company founded in 1997. The Company is a leading provider of language solutions such as online dictionaryhttp://www.babylon.com/and translation software, translation services, language learning solutions, English writing enhancement and more. Babylon.com has set a Guinness World Record™ for Most Downloads of a Translation Software with over 150 million users in more than 231 markets, supporting 75 languages and listed among the 45 most popular websites worldwide.

For more, click here.

Press Contact:
Babylon Ltd.
Tel: +1-866-808-6361
Email: press@babylon.com

My Life in Translation: "You'll Never Guess What I Have in my Throat"

Mon, 21 May 2012 02:56:18 -0400

By Anna Johansson

I moved to the UK in 1995, and although a hillbilly from a small village in the middle of nowhere close to the Norwegian border in south west Sweden shouldn’t have adjusted so easily to the hustle and bustle of London, I did, with remarkable ease. Fast forward my first year as an au-pair and my first degree, I was in my first job as a recruitment consultant, which was something I fell into by accident as I had no idea what I wanted to be doing with my life and not having produced the epic piece of literature worthy of collecting a Nobel prize.

Now, years later and with an MA in Translation added to the bullshit on my CV, I am fairly comfortable with the English language and only very rarely do I stumble. However, although I was certainly what might be described as fluent in the language after four years on these shores, there were still things that I had yet to learn. Sayings and colloquialisms can indeed be tricky and it doesn’t matter whether you have an extensive vocabulary - these can only be learnt as they come by.

For example, whereas the English smell a rat, the Swedes reckon there’s a dog buried here if something’s a little dodgy. And so on.

So there I was, on the phone to a Very Important Client, and my voice kept cracking. What I obviously didn’t know at the time was that when this happens - when you have to cough to clear your throat - the English have a frog in their throat. Us Swedes don’t have frogs in our throats. We have ROOSTERS. Only that’s not the word I used, caught off-guard and doing a quick literal translation in my head.

“Sorry, I had a cock in my throat,” I said down the phone, thinking nothing of it.

My boss, who of course was within earshot - clearly God spotted an opportunity - fell in a heap on the floor and laughed his pretentious bollocks off. And by the way, in Sweden we don’t laugh our bollocks (or tits or arses, for that matter) off, we laugh ourselves to death (figures, being sun-deprived for half of the year and therefore depressive and probably prone to adverse reactions to happiness of any kind).

The line went very quiet and I realised what I’d said. You’d think I couldn’t possibly make this any worse, right? OH YES WE CAN!

I went on to explain I’m from Sweden.

Spotlight on Greenland

Thu, 17 May 2012 04:31:34 -0400

The official languages of Greenland are Greenlandic and Danish, but English is also widely spoken.
The capital of Greenland is Nuuk.
Greenland was discovered by Vikings in the 10^th century. It is believed that they named it Greenland in order to entice settlers.
In Greenlandic, Greenland is known as ‘Kalaallit Nunaat’, meaning the Land of People.
Most of the people living in Greenland are settled in the western areas, which are ice-free and along the coast.
85% of Greenland’s 2,175,900 sq km is covered in ice.
Greenland was a closed and self-sufficient economy till World War II.
The national dish of Greenland is boiled seal meat, along with rice and onions. (Editors Note: YUCK.)
In Greenland, there are basically two ways of covering long distances - aircraft/helicopter and ship. There are no roads connecting its towns because of all the ice.
Northern lights appear in Greenland throughout the year, but can only be observed against a clear night sky.
During the Arctic summer, the sun never sets in Greenland. (Editors Note: BRING SUNGLASSES.)
July is the only month in which Greenland’s temperature goes above the freezing point. (Editors Note: BRING YOUR SWEATER.)

Here’s a great folksong about whaling in Greenland sung by the incomparable Peter Paul and Mary:

GREENLAND WHALE FISHERIES

My Life in Translation: "A Star is Born"

Sun, 13 May 2012 10:57:00 -0400

By Benji Lovitt

Since making aliyah in 2006, Benji Lovitt has spent roughly every waking moment doing one of the following: trying to make people laugh, eating chumus, or writing about chumus to make people laugh. In addition to working with Jewish organizations to promote Israel, Benji has performed stand-up comedy for groups including Hillels, Masa Israel Journey, Birthright Israel, the Jewish Federations of North America, and more. His perspectives on aliyah and life in Israel have been featured on Israeli television, radio, and in print media. For a stand-up comedy show, contact him at benji@benjilovitt.com. For more great material, check out his website.

Last week, our company headed down to Arad for a two-day summer sikkum (wrap-up). With each department responsible for presenting themselves, guess which member of the North American desk got to make a fool of himself in front of everyone on video? Yeaaaaaah. I don’t know how I let my co-workers talk me into doing a monkey impression. (Trust me, it was in the context of a skit. And no, you won’t be seeing it ever.)

Anyway, we were all sitting around the lunch table a few days later and I was trying to convince my camera-shy co-worker Shira that she didn’t embarrass herself (not nearly as much as me anyway.) How did I do this? By saying with feeling, “Shira!Hayeet kocha-VEET! (You were a star!)”

Well, I thought that’s what I was saying. Instead of calling her ko-CHEV-vet however, I told her she was the little star on a phone (you know, the one just under the “7″). Laughter ensued.

The moral of the story as always?

Nope, still not Israeli.

Who wouldn’t want to be a kochevet?

Almost as flattering as being the sulameet (#).

Tips to Help the Earth... From Anywhere in the World

Wed, 09 May 2012 02:59:00 -0400

Our environment is struggling. For too long we have taken from the Earth without giving back. It’s time to do something about it: Let’s look at some very small and simple things you can do at work to help the environment.

Small things add up. If 100 people do 100 small things it starts to make a big difference. Please read these tips and then forward them to your friends and co-workers.

Let’s see if we can make a difference. These tips are easy to implement.

Turn off your lights, computer screens etc. when leaving…
Lights are the biggest killer of energy in the corporate world. Massive buildings like the Empire State Building have millions of lights and they leave them all on, all night. What a waste.

Switch to compact fluorescent lamps
These bulbs are the spiral ones as opposed to the traditional round light bulb. Using one of these lasts as long as SIX traditional globes and saves up to 75% of the energy. They cost a bit more off the shelf but save heaps in long term costs. Easy.

Turn things off at the power point
At the end of the day we usually just turn things off at their console switch instead of reaching around and turning them off at the power point. Most people do not realize that a lot of power is wasted when you leave the power point on.

Catch the bus to work
There really is no advantage in driving to work unless you have to leave and come back during the day. The bus is cheaper and it is much better for the environment. Each car that you take off the road saves thousands of pounds of greenhouse gases every year. By catching the bus you will be saving money and helping the Earth.

Make sure the work kitchen fridge is not leaking
Fridges that leak air outside because of poor seals waste a lot of energy. Be the one to glue it back on or if the job requires more attention submit an anonymous complaints saying that the fridge is a safety concern and needs to be fixed. This should also get management off their butts!

We’d love to know what you are doing to help the environment.

At Babylon, we believe in healing the world, and instead of buying a dictionary made from trees, you can go Green with our translation software. And in an effort to make this world a better place, in honor of Earth Day, we will happily offer you a 50% discount on Babylon until May 13th, 2012.