"Language exerts hidden power, like the moon on the tides," American
writer Rita Mae Brown once wrote. Those who recognise the power of
language realise that much can be achieved by wielding this power
wisely.
Second Life is a world that depends very much on language, more so
than the so-called "real world": content creators communicate with
customers through words on vendor ads, notecards, and IMs. Language
therefore becomes crucial to communication. The content creator who is
able to employ language to do his bidding will forge a stronger
connection with his customers and see greater rewards.
The nature of SL has meant that people all over the globe and from all
walks of life are populating this virtual world. The diversity is such
that less than 50% of residents claim English as their first language.
Babel Translations was founded with the vision of helping content
creators to fully take advantage of the power of language in order
that their business might reach as many potential customers as
possible and have the greatest chance for growth and success.
Founded in June 2007 by Peter Stindberg, over the past two years Babel
has established itself as the premiere translation and copywriting
agency in SL, bridging the language gap between content creators and
their customers. While its core business focuses on language
translation services, Babel has also branched out into associated
services and business solutions, offering assistance to content
creators wishing to establish a business in SL.
Thus, the company not only provides language translation services for
all kinds of documents including specialised texts like license
agreements, covenants, and terms of service; it also offers
consultation and copywriting services. Stindberg and his team work
with content creators to not only translate, but also create and
develop texts that will fit into a business's marketing strategy, thus
spurring the business's success and growth. Product descriptions and
advertising texts can be written or edited to match a specific user
group and audience. This ensures that a content creator exploits the
power of language to its fullest potential, for the greatest reward.
With a team of well over 50 translators, Babel is able to provide
translations in languages such as English, German, French, Italian,
Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and many others. To
ensure that the service is affordable, pricing is oriented at in-world
(not "real life") rates. Furthermore, all the translators are
themselves residents of SL and therefore understand the culture as
well as the context of the communication taking place; this places
them in a unique position to be able to effectively bridge the
language gap between content creator and any potential customers.
In March 2009, Linden Labs officially recognised Babel Translations as
one of the official Second Life Solution Providers. This award further
demonstrates that Babel has come of age as a company that is reliable,
efficient and fills a crucial role in the virtual world we live in.
The importance of Babel's work has been recognised by content creators
behind brands such as Adam'n'Eve, Mechanized Life, Calla Hair and
Botanical, all of whom have benefited from Babel's services.
However, Babel's focus is not solely on businesses and content
creators. No document is too unimportant to translate, no piece of
writing too trivial. Babel not only wishes to help content creators
forge stronger communication with their customers, but desires to draw
various SL communities and residents closer together. The company is
therefore proud to announce its participation in the sixth SL birthday
celebrations, SL6B. It is a significant landmark for Babel to be able
to celebrate its second anniversary in the same month that Second Life
turns six years old.
Babel's presence at SL6B will celebrate the richness that the various
languages in SL can bring to a resident's Second Life experience. As
"Your partner in the written word", Babel aims to raise the awareness
of the language gaps that create chasms between various communities in
SL and to educate visitors on the necessity of bridging these gaps.
Contact Information:
Peter Stindberg
peter.stindberg@googlemail.com
SLURL of SL6B exhibit:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/SL6B%20Quantum/218/69/25 (June 23 through
June 29)
It was four years ago this week that the Mystery sim was founded. And to celebrate, Tygeria Mirabeau and her staff are throwing a week of special events. They started out with a bang with Debi Latte singing live from the Queen of Hearts riverboat club. But Mystery has much more to celebrate besides the parties. There are new attractions, and even a sister sim appearing.
It was four years ago next week that the Mystery sim was founded. And to celebrate, they plan on holding a week of events. The fun starts tomorrow, Sunday May 16th when at Noon, Debi Latte comes to the riverboat club to sing live. Tygeria Mirabeau and Amythe Midnight, the sim owner and sim manager, had praise for Debi, saying she had always made time for Mystery and it’s people.
Blarion’s party was a surprise, planned by Aikun Neiro and Gwyendalin Gausman (real life daughter and mother). Aikun invited him over to their beach island on Fearly while the rest of us hid, then we rushed forward, “Happy Birthday Blarion!” After his, “Aw, gee ...” We all sat down for a fairly relaxed celebration. There was a little funning around, notably when one guy insisted on sitting on the hot grill, inspiring crack jokes if hot dogs came with “warm buns.”
On Labor Day weekend, two notable people had their parties, one birthday, and one rezzday. Pooky Amsterdam’s birthday was on Saturday September the 5th, and so she invited a number of friends and media audience regulars to a place. Hopping over, what we saw was a smaller version of her “The 1st Question” game show set. Among the people there was Chantel Harvey, a Machinima director, as were others on Pooky’s staff such as Kat2 Kit and Geo Meek.
On Sunday September the 6th, Tygeria Mirabeau gave her best friend Amythe Moonlight a surprise rezzday party. Live entertainment was part of the event, Lyn Carlberg and Taunter Goodnight. She sent regulars to the Heart of Mystery riverboat club notecards with the time of the party, and asking them not to tell Amy before the party, “For four years in SL, my Amy has been very wise, or foolish to not run away screaming. To me, she has been my guide and help, my teacher and my dearest friend.”
What an accomplishment!
"Language exerts hidden power, like the moon on the tides," American
In March 2009, Linden Labs officially recognised Babel Translations as
Last night saw the end of a week of celebrations, parties every night from some amazing DJ's; Dakota Christensen, BCreative Wilde and our own amazing Qwark Allen and to end it all a live concert from Labgraal, more pictures can be seen in the EVENTS section.
Later today I will finish uploading all the pictures from the week of events into my Flickr HERE.
Join the sl-newspaper group or click the Artizan subscriber at any of our inworld locations (click main office at the top for TP) to keep up to date with plans and find out how you can get involved.