International communication

Venture capital discrimination

By Matthew, May 05 2022

Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator—the tech accelerator that supports early-stage, growth-driven companies through education, mentorship and financing—has funded a number of successful start-ups including Dropbox, Airbnb and Reddit. Despite this, in 2013 he made a controversial comment about how he evaluates potential companies. He managed to both offend many foreign-born Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and reveal a prejudice common among venture capitalists.

“One quality that’s a really bad indication is a CEO with a strong foreign accent,” Graham told Inc. magazine. “I’m not sure why. It could be that there are a bunch of subtle things entrepreneurs have to communicate and [you] can’t [do that] if you have a strong accent. Or, it could be that anyone with half a brain would realize you’re going to be more successful if you speak idiomatic English, so they must just be clueless if they haven’t gotten rid of their strong accent.”

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The Glass Ceiling Facing Nonnative English Speakers
Work
International communication
Diversity
Language learning
Globalisation

Simultaneous translator coming soon

By Di, January 27 2020

Until now pocket translators have all followed the same steps: 1) you say something in your language; 2) the device turns your speech into text; 3) it translates the text to the other language; and finally, 4) the text-to-speech voice says it in the new language. A long process that makes for a frustrating conversation.

Enter two new devices—the “WT2 Plus Ear to Ear AI Translator Earbuds” from Timekettle, and the over-the-ear “Ambassador” from Waverly Labs. Both allow the speaker to continue speaking while the translation is taking place. You don’t have to wait after every sentence for the machine to catch up with you. This makes for a much faster conversation with a more natural flow. They aren’t simultaneous, but they’re pretty close. The WT2 Plus is already available, and the Ambassador is coming out soon. 

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The Latest in Translation Devices
Technology
A.I.
International communication
Language

20-year-old speaks 19 languages

By Di, July 25 2019

At the age of 20, Montreal linguistics student Georges Awaad can already speak 19 different languages, most of which he taught himself through internet videos, music and conversation with friends. “I’m a very auditory person, so I try to expose myself as much as possible to the language, by listening to music, videos, films if I find them, and by listening to conversations and having them with friends,” he says.

He also speaks Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Russian, Hebrew, Romanian, Swedish, Georgian, Armenian, Cantonese, Korean, Esperanto, and Dutch. Despite his achievement, Awaad doesn’t believe he has any exceptional skills when it comes to learning languages. His secret, he says, is that he finds it fun.

 Awaad says that “learning a new language can open your mind and heart to so many other people around the world and new cultures. You can understand the world so much better and on a much deeper level."

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This 20-year-old Montreal student speaks 19 languages—and counting
Language learning
International communication
Culture
Diversity