LONDON, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Emoji, the symbols and smileys used in electronic messages and web pages, have become so popular that a London translation company is advertising for its first emoji translator.
Today Translations, a translation firm based in the City of London, said in a job advertisement that it is looking for a dedicated expert to help meet "the translation challenges posed by the world's fastest-growing language."
"In the absence of any native speakers, the successful candidate should be able to demonstrate a passion for emojis, combined with cutting-edge knowledge and awareness of areas of confusion and cultural/international differences," the company said.
In a bid to find the best applicants, the company even created an online test asking people to translate strings of emojis into English phrases. For example, the popular song represented by a dancing girl and a crown is translated as the Swedish group ABBA's Dancing Queen.
Emoji has been a rapidly evolving form of international communication, the company said. "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," it added.
It is common to see people, mostly youngsters, use emoji to substitute some words or even entire sentences when they text their family, friends or even work mates.
For people who have little knowledge about the secret code language, reading messages in emoji would be like deciphering a telegram yet with much fun. Believe it or not, an emoji-version of Jane Austin's romantic fiction Pride and Prejudice has been published for the "emoji-savvy" people to read.
Originating on Japanese mobile phones in the late 1990s, emoji gained worldwide popularity after their international inclusion in Apple's iPhone, which was followed by similar adoption by Android and other mobile operating systems.
On Monday, Apple added hundreds of highly anticipated new emoji to its iPhone and iPad with the latest iOS 10.2 update, offering a wider range of fresh miniature images to choose from.
"More diverse characters, new professions, expressions like face palm, shrugs and fingers crossed, and new emoji representing sports, food, animals and more, can be shared today right from within Messages, the most frequently used app in iOS," said Apple in a press release.
