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Emoticons are the language of the Internet, and if you don't speak emoji, much of the world is passing you by. Now a firm in London has placed what may be the first ever job advert for a full-time emoticon translator.
Astonished face emoji.
This in a job advert, really?
Emoji translation is itself an emerging field, but one dominated to date by software, which is often insensitive to the many cultural differences in usage and interpretation. We are therefore seeking an exceptional individual to provide the human touch needed where translation software is inadequate.
A real job translating emojis, but why would translation software be inadequate? And here is a clue.
Crafty face emoji.
It's the emoji the Instagram social network has banned.
Eat fresh food, no?
This emoji signifies…
No, I don't. But I know it's an aubergine. But I've no idea.
Something rude.v
Yeah!
Do you know what this emoji means?
If it's associated with young people, it's probably sexual.
Yeah, sorry.
It's rude.
Oh, it's like an aubergine but it's not meant to be an aubergine. Yeah.
The company placing the job advert is Today Translations.
Bossy face emoji.
I asked chief executive Jurga Zilinskiene why.
We have seen the evolution of this wonderful language which is becoming universal. It is becoming used in the so many different ways. And we are finding that it's causing a little bit of confusion somewhere. And we feel that we really need a professional sometimes to untangle inconsistencies or different interpretations. This is a potential growth area and perhaps one global universal language.
Now that's an interesting thing. You think this could become the language of the world or maybe has already in some ways?
Well, it does have potential, I think. We're seeing now even when you look at the movies with the newest blockbuster which was The Arrival. So emojis were used there in the context of communication with somebody or some other entity that could not speak any of the languages available on earth. So we are not saying that we will probably be able to communicate with entities on Mars, but at the same time, I think we really need to look at how we can communicate more globally and probably emoji would fill this gap.
Naughty face emoji.
And she is the expert I have to ask.
