Who needs a pocket translator? Just send an SMS to the TOMP (Translation On Mobile Phones) service from A3UK at 88800 stating the word TOMP followed by the languages to translate from and to (choose among English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Dutch) and then any word or phrase, e.g. TOMP ENGLISH SPANISH TWO PAELLAS PLEASE, and within seconds you’ll receive a reply. e.g. DOS PAELLA POR FAVOR. Hat tip: Smart Mobs.

Ectaco, Inc., the world leader in the development of electronic dictionaries, translators and linguistic software, announces free customization of the SpeechGuard (TM) PD-4. Using technology developed for the U.S. military, the SpeechGuard (TM) PD-4 has been modified to help first responders and others in law enforcement communicate with victims or others who do not speak English.

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With the European Union’s expansion to 25 countries, companies are facing new challenges and opportunities. The upcoming GALA seminar brings together experts who will discuss strategies for success in this changing environment.

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Friends Abroad today announced the launch of its tandem learning site Friendsabroad.com. For more information about tandem learning or tandem learning sites, please visit the Linguistic Solutions Resources page.

Tips for Mastering E-mail Overload by Stever Robbins. Hat tip: Online Business Networks.

In yet another example of government-endorsed multilingualism gone awry, election officials in San Diego County, Calif., are recalling more than 8,000 copies of the Spanish edition of the local Voter Guide after discovering that the translations were, according to one translator, “horrific.” The 8-1/2 x 14 booklet is being taken from local libraries and city halls after a host of errors were found, including missing words, absent accent marks and incorrect spelling.

“The San Diego voter guide represents just one of thousands of ballots, election handbooks and voter information materials that have been translated for this election,” said U.S. English Chairman Mauro E. Mujica. “There is no telling how many other translation errors have been made, or how many more will crop up between now and Nov. 2. One can only imagine the effect these may have on what is expected to be an extremely close election.”

The rise in translation errors is tied to the rise in multilingual materials as required by recent additions to federal law. The Department of Justice has been relentless in its pursuit of enforcing the unbalanced act, which mandates multilingual voting materials for languages such as Spanish and Japanese, but not others such as Arabic and Italian. In all, more than 300 counties nationwide have been forced to offer ballots in as many as six languages.

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Wireless companies and record labels see salsa music as the next ring with bling for cellular phones.

Both industries are attempting to gain leverage in the Latin ringtone market, offering more merengue as a hook for Hispanic consumers. Industry executives say the demographic is relatively untapped for companies that sell ringtones. And at $1.50 to $1.99 for each tune, wireless companies and record labels stand to build rapidly on a $3 billion industry.

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“Beware the CEO blog,” says Seth Godin. Since Seth Godin isn’t up for comments on his blog, this CEO with a sense of candor, urgency, timeliness, pithiness, controversy, and utility will post his comments here and invite yours and Seth Godin’s in return. “My work in the world is about sharing and acquiring knowledge globally, through the awesome power of languages and technology…” (from my life plan). That’s why I founded Linguistic Solutions. That’s why I started the Linguistic Solutions Blog.

The Nebraska Supreme Court will be examining the accuracy of a Spanish translation of the Miranda rights.

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Greg Thibodeaux sent me a link to a Houston Press article featuring our mutual friend Matt Mullenweg, lead developer of WordPress, on which the Linguistic Solutions Blog runs (thanks to Matt and another mutual friend, Scott Allen).

U.S. Hispanic purchasing power has surged to nearly $700 billion and is projected to reach as much as $1 trillion by 2010, according to new estimates by HispanTelligence®.

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HispanicBusiness.com announces HispanTelligence Hispanic market projections for 2005 planning.

Justice Department auditors found that 123,000 hours of untranslated material in languages used by terrorists remained unreviewed in July, and that the FBI is having trouble organizing its workload to focus on the agency’s highest priority cases. The agency has reacted to media reports on an audit with denials and objections, often sidestepping the primary criticisms.

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See Federico García Lorca’s Yerma performed (in the original Spanish) tonight at 8:00 p.m. at the University of Houston’s José Quintero Lab Theatre. Admittance is free.

I was in attendance at the Houston WordPress Meetup Group Monthly Meetup this afternoon. Matthew Mullenweg, lead developer of WordPress and the organizer of the group was absent. In his abscence, Dennis Williamson used the Linguistic Solutions Blog to give attendees John Beck, Jonathan Abad, Lee Wilkins and Marcus Major a look at version 1.3 of WordPress.