Suri Cruise, the daughter of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, became the poster child for name picks with unintended meanings. In 2006, the couple said that they chose the name in part because Suri means “princess” in Hebrew, but this was disputed. In other languages, Suri’s meaning proved less flattering. In Japanese, Suri means “pickpocket.” In French it means “turned sour,” and in an Indian dialect it means “pointy nose.” Perhaps a less than ideal name then for the daughter of international stars who frequently travel the globe.

Today Translations’ new service would prevent celebrity couples and regular folk from picking names with negative associations in foreign languages. This may seem trivial, but in our increasingly globalized world, your child may thank you down the road if they end up living in Europe or doing a semester abroad.  As Jurga Zilinskiene, the company’s chief executive said, “at the end of the day, it’s something a person has to live with for the rest of their lives.”

Morningside does not yet offer a baby names translation service, but if any of our clients are debating baby names at home and would like an outside opinion, feel free to try a few out on us. We promise to give each name a thumbs up or thumbs down vote, and we are glad to offer this service absolutely free.

Buggy Machine Translation

Often times, we hear the term machine translation used in the legal translation industry in reference to document translation. We are called upon to discuss the validity of a machine translation and to compare it to the translation service that a human may provide. Machines, or computers being referred to as machines, cannot possibly absorb all of the nuances and specialty knowledge base that is required for most legal translation matters.

To be sure, machines have revolutionized the world in a way that would not have been possible with humans alone. It is impossible to argue with the assertion that a machine can assemble car parts or portions of cereal more quickly and effectively than a human can. However, mechanical operations are precisely that and nothing more. Adding a precise and measured portion of cereal into a bag is all about measurements, a scientific measurement.

Translation, on the other hand, has very little to do with scientific measurement. Legal translation revolves around language and the attention to meaning and intention perceived in such language. A machine cannot possibly pick up on the difference between “like” and “as” and “such as”, for example. Ultimately, the use of machine translations to make a legal case is too risky an endeavor when considering the document translation at hand requires extreme care. As many legal cases rely on the meaning and understanding of one single word or phrase, a human translation is required to ensure that the sensitivity to that word or phrase is picked up on and adhered to.

Morningside’s corporate responsibility includes active participation in staff volunteer opportunities throughout the community, as well as discounted interpretation and translation services for pro bono legal casework and cause marketing projects.

For more information regarding our Pro Bono translation services, please visit: http://www.morningtrans.com/about/contributions-pro-bono