Translations

Los Angeles police Capt. Dennis Kato stands in a rooftop parking lot, a device in hand resembling a clunky 1980s-era cellphone. He selects Korean from the device's menu, then speaks into the microphone: "Medical assistance." A speaker on his vehicle booms in Korean: "If you require medical assistance, please approach the nearest officer." Switching to Spanish, Kato says: "Welcome." The screen lights up: "Welcome to this event. We are here to facilitate your 1st Amendment rights."

The Pentagon is setting up a civilian Language Corps, a cadre of about 1,000 foreign-language speakers who can help the government in times of war and national emergencies. In a three-year pilot program, the Defense Department will recruit volunteers and do testing to see whether such a program would work. If successful, a permanent corps could be developed, officials said.

More Iraqi and Afghan interpreters, frequently in danger in their home countries because of their association with Americans, would get U.S. visas under legislation passed in the House on Tuesday. The bill, approved 412 to 8, would increase to 500 the number of special immigrant visas granted annually to interpreters. A 2006 defense bill set at 50 the annual cap on visas for interpreters who had worked for the U.S. military for a year.

The concept is enticing: an electronic translator that eliminates the need for language lessons or dictionaries when you go abroad. Just turn it on and let it translate -- and perfectly pronounce -- the words for you. Nothing could be simpler, or could it? We tested three models while touring French Polynesia and found that users need to spend substantial time practicing before trying to use them in public.

Brad Stewart was a teenage stock trader in 1986 when he went to a West Los Angeles financial bookstore and stumbled across a strange, smoke-filled back room devoted to an odd science. The co-owner of the store, Jerome Baumring, sat with his cowboy-booted feet on a desk and chain-smoked while staring through owlish glasses at a computer screen filled with stock market quotes.

How do you say "spaghetti straps" in Spanish? To find the answer, translator Ron Koff paged through a mini-dictionary used by the Los Angeles Unified School District. He found a few offerings for baggy pants: \o7pantalones abombachados, anchos, sueltos, flojos, guangos\f7. He found halter top: \o7blusa con espalda al descubierto.\f7 But no spaghetti straps.

A group of House Republicans wants to do away with bilingual ballots and translation assistance at the polls, a reflection of how tensions over immigration are pervading other issues. As Congress readies to reauthorize the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the lawmakers are lobbying their colleagues to let the act's language assistance provisions expire.

When Jerusalem produced an English version of a sightseeing brochure, it lost itself in the translation from Hebrew. "Jerusalem. There is no such city!" the brochure said. What it meant was: "Jerusalem. There is no city like it!" Israel's Maariv newspaper said tens of thousands of the brochures had been distributed before the mistake was discovered.

Judy Tao speaks Mandarin and Taiwanese but not English, making even a quick call to the bank to check her balance a task that requires advance planning and assistance from her English-speaking sister. So when she heard about a new service that will let her dial up an interpreter who would translate her phone conversations with her bank, the city government and several other businesses for free, she put down her grocery bag to find out more.