Language ability is a unique human trait, and it is indispensable throughout the human life cycle. Blockchain on the other hand, is an innovation that will transform production relationships, change collaboration models and distribution of benefits between people. Language and blockchain seem to have no intersection, yet they are bewilderingly similar in certain ways.
When Language Meets Blockchain leads us into an exploratory journey to discover the possibilities of integrating blockchain technology with the language services industry. The author discusses how blockchain technology enables translators to realise their full potential and describes how the role of language can be elevated from a general tool to a driving force through a new concept called Cross-Linguistic Capability. This is a concept that will have very intriguing and beneficial implications for global economic activities.
It is demonstrated that language is more than just a tool, it is also a resource and a form of capability. This presents opportunities for cross-linguistic and cross-cultural communications in the era of blockchain, to enable the convergence of linguistic capability with blockchain technology and artificial intelligence. The book's perspective on how the language services industry could adapt to times to embrace blockchain technology for industrial transformation, is both forwarding-looking and value enhancing.
Sample Chapter(s)
Forewords
Introduction
Contents:
- About the Author
- About the Translator
- Foreword 1: A Fusion of Language and Blockchain
- Foreword 2: Linguistic Capability — The Catalyst for Human Civilisation
- Foreword 3: The Token Economy and Language Services
- Preface
- Introduction
- To Know Macro from Micro — Innate Similarities Between Language and Blockchain
- A Sudden Revelation — Everyone Lives Within His Own Language Chain
- A Perpetual Deadlock — The Language-Based Translation Services Industry Remains a Workshop-Style Existence
- Unrecognised Gifts — The Lack of a Suitable Model for Bilingual Talents to Actualise Potential
- Wide Recognition — Blockchain Reveals the Value of Bilingual Talent
- A Perfect Match — The Wonderful Union of Language and Blockchain
- The Born Child — Cross-Linguistic Capability as a Fundamental in the Blockchain Era
- A Beautiful Evolution — A New World Free from Language Barriers
- The Journey with Language — A Mutually Fulfilling Partnership
- The Conclusion: Once in a Thousand Years
- Epilogue
- Index
Readership: Undergraduates majoring in Language Studies, Translation and Interpretations and Project Management e.g. Localisation projects, and professionals like translators, linguists, language teachers, blockchain developers, project managers, UX designers and other professionals working with blockchain technologies.
"I am shaken to witness such an extensive transformation of the translation industry in the era of blockchain. With her distinct and profound knowledge on language, Dr Peng has done a marvellous job on her explorations. This book is a must-read for every translation professional."
Wei De Han
Renowned Russian Sinologist
Translator for more than 10 Chinese ancient classical stories which include The Art of War by Sun Tzu and Book of Changes
"Blockchain technology is not only applicable to recording financial transactions but has also been applied to other fields. Dr Peng has done a meaningful job probing the applicability of blockchain into the language service domain."
David Cane
Founder and CEO, Memsource a.s.
"This book explores the possibilities that could result from the integration of language with the latest technology. 'Blockchain + Translation' is 'Internet + Translation' and 'Artificial Intelligence + Translation'. This is a model overlaid with new and infinite possibilities awaiting to be explored"
Fang Jun
Founding Member, Token Economy Industry Alliance
Consultant Partner, Huobi University
Author of Introduction to Blockchain
"It is an innovative initiative to combine the study of language and blockchain. The concept of 'language capability' presented in the book creates value for language within blockchain. This is an innovation out of human's innate capacity for language. It will be the beginning of a new domain."
Ye Kai
Founder of Han Tuo Technology
Author of Token Economic Design Pattern
"Dr Peng adopts deductive reasoning for her product and deduced a solution supported by blockchain technology which could resolve the perplexing phenomenon of high output efforts reaping low returns faced by translation professionals, otherwise quoted in Gresham's Law as 'Bad money drives out good'."
Zhu Hongbing
Chairman
Singapore Blockchain Technology Foundation
"Many people in the language services industry feel that blockchain is just a solution, but Dr Peng thinks that language and blockchain are correlated, and similar correlations exist for blockchain, artificial intelligence and language. I recommend that everyone should read this book to prepare for the near future."
Jaap van der Meer
Director
TAUS, Language Data Networks
"This masterpiece moved me out of my industrial perspective and walked me into the essence of blockchain. We communicate daily with our fluent mother tongue which in fact, is equivalent to a chain executing its application. This book is a steady push to the language services industry."
Chen Caigen
Founder, Daily Shakes
"Language is the basis of common understanding for human development. Aided by blockchain, contributions by language creators could be identified, quantified, recognised and gain due returns which will give an impetus to the development of language and civilisation."
Sun Zhiyong
Senior Partner
Beijing Tian Tai Law Firm
"The translation profession is going through an industrial reform in the era of blockchain and Dr Peng is in the vanguard for both the theory and the practical aspect. Besides a systematic exploration into the theory, the latest research and development results of the blockchain are also brought into university classrooms, helping students to be linked seamlessly with the latest technology of the translation industry."
Susan Xu
Head, Translation and Interpretation Programme
Singapore University of Social Sciences
"Language is the basis for communication. It enables every human interaction and fuels every business activity. Blockchain provides traceability and security for transactions that require it. Peggy strides the worlds of language and blockchain, and helps us understand where these worlds meet."
Renato Beninatto
CEO
Nimdzi Insights
"Dr Peng presented the concept of language capability where language data are collected and shared on blockchain, these data will be circulated systematically driven by tokens and be applied to the IOL (Internet Of language) platform."
David Lee
Professor
Singapore University of Social Sciences
"Translation is a domain that has not changed fundamentally in over a thousand years. Dr Peng has conducted a thorough analysis on integrating blockchain application with the translation industry and presented the innovative concept of language capability."
Dr Yu Jianing
President, Huobi Education, Leading Blockchain Educational Institution in China
Chairman, On duty of the Blockchain Committee of China Communications Industry Association
About the Author
Peng Zhihong obtained a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Education and was named Associate Professor of Huazhong University of Science and Technology at the age of 33.
Dr Peng immigrated to Singapore in 2000 and since then has been committed to the research and promotion of Chinese language and culture in Singapore, and has facilitated cultural exchange between Singapore and China. She led the development of a textbook series entitled "Business Chinese Today" under the auspices of the then Workforce Development Agency (WDA) of Singapore and the textbooks have been incorporated into its training programme "Workforce Skills Qualifications".
She returned to her hometown Wuhan, China in 2013 to join China's leading artificial intelligence language service platform Transn IOL Technology Co., Ltd as a top management personnel. Since 2018, she has been focusing on the theoretical research and practical explorations of how blockchain applications can transform the language field and has explored ways to integrate artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data and other cutting-edge technologies for intelligent organisation and scheduling of integrated language service capacity. Her team members from the IOL (Internet Of Language) Research Institute, under her leadership, have proposed the concept of language blockchain products, have developed TWINSLATOR and WordPower and have entered the phase of practical applications for these blockchain products. They are set to enhance the capacity and organisational efficiency of the language services industry through an ecosystem on a language networking platform that will empower the demand and supply parties of language services to provide basic support for fast, accurate, low cost and large-scale delivery of multilingual services.
About the Translator
Tan Mui Yan Winnie is a freelance English and Chinese translator. She is a Singaporean Chinese with two grown-up children. Winnie graduated from the Singapore University of Social Sciences in December 2021 with a Bachelor of Arts in Translation and Interpretation (English and Chinese). She has 5 years of translation experience and has translated commercial documents, literary works, web novels and marketing materials.
Winnie had 10 years of industrial work experience which include 8 years as a Research Officer with the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. Her role was to gather and interpret data to perform analysis on equities markets, company performance, economic developments, and technology trends. Her research contributions supported the generation and execution of investment decisions. She also had experience in a sales and marketing position in an import and export trading environment.
Winnie appreciates the opportunity to translate When Language Meets Blockchain to benefit English readers and in particular, language professionals. She believes that all linguists and especially translators like herself will benefit from Dr Peng's work on Cross-Linguistic Capability. It has been a pleasurable challenge working on the translation and the production of this book, and Winnie anticipates the positive impact of blockchain application to the translation services profession. She hopes to see the potential of translators being fully recognised and duly rewarded, enabling a fulfilling language service profession.
