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Most endangered languages in the World

Published on June 6, 2011 in Did you know?, Languages and Tips for Translators. 1 Comment

An endangered language is defined as any language that children will probably not be speaking them in 100 years. Here are the top ten most at risk languages:

1. Apiaca: Brazil

This language and way of life is threatened by the gradual creep of Portuguese into the Mato Grosso region. In 2007, the language only appeared to have one remaining speaker. This in spite of an ethnic population hovering around 192 people.

2. Bikya: Cameroon

This language might actually be extinct without ethnographers knowing it. The last contact with the only known Biyka speaker occurred in 1986. The remaining speaker also happened to be the last known Bikya in the country.

3. Taje: Sulawesi

This Austronesian language, also known as Petapa, was apparently only spoken by one person in 2000. It’s entirely plausible that it may have passed into extinction since then, but no linguist or ethnographer knows for certain.

4. Dampelas: Sulawesi

UNESCO claims that only one of the 10,300 Dampelas peoples spoke the Austronesian language as of 2000, meaning it may very well be extinct by now.

5. Diahoi: Brazil

As of 2006, there was only one Diahoi speaker in the world. Hailing from the Amazon region of Brazil, Diahoi is also known as Jiahui, Jahoi, Djahui, Diahkoi and Diarroi. Because of the isolated location, linguists and ethnographers don’t know for certain whether or not the language has become officially extinct.

Continue reading in The Telegraph

Related Posts:

Endangered Languages Open Database Launched Online
Will 90% of the languages cease to exist
Number of Living Languages
Endangered language opens window on to past

Bilingualism Delays Onset of Alzheimer’s Disease

Published on June 3, 2011 in Languages, News, Spanish Language, Tips for Translators and Translation Buyers. 1 Comment

Ellen Bialystok, a cognitive neuroscientist and research professor of psychology, has made the study of bilingualism her life’s work. After nearly 40 years of research, she has discovered that regularly speaking two languages offers a number of benefits, including a delay in the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Bialystok found that there’s a significant difference between monolinguals and bilinguals in terms of how they process language. Bilingualism sharpens the mind’s ability to maintain multiple pieces of information in play and switch between them, effectively improving one’s multitasking skills.

A study published by Dr. Bialystok in 2004 showed that normally aging monolingual individuals experience a more pronounced loss of cognitive functioning than their normally aging bilingual counterparts. In later studies, the records of 400 Alzheimer’s patients were examined. The findings revealed that while bilingualism didn’t prevent Alzheimer’s disease, those who spoke two languages manifested symptoms five to six years later than the monolinguals.

For more information, read “The Bilingual Advantage” on NYTimes.com.

Dirae: The Latest Tool to Search for Terms in Spanish

Published on May 27, 2011 in Languages, Latinos, News, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments

Spanish speakers and students of the Spanish language now have one more handy tool at their disposal. The Real Academia Española (RAE) – the official institution responsible for policing the Spanish language – recently released the online tool known as Dirae, based on the RAE’s Diccionario de la lengua española (Spanish language dictionary). Unlike traditional dictionaries, Dirae functions as a reverse dictionary, enabling users to find words based on a set of general concepts.

Using carefully chosen search terms, Dirae also functions as an associative thesaurus, etymological search tool, and synonym finder. For example, by entering the search terms “‘del quechua’ maíz,” the tool will return Spanish words etymologically based in the Quechua language that are related to corn. Read more about this new tool and view examples of its use here [in Spanish].

Related Posts:
New Spanish Spelling Reforms from the RAE
New Inclusive Grammar Guidelines from the Real Academia Española

When Never to Use Google Translate

Published on May 22, 2011 in Languages, Portuguese Language, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments

While Google Translate and similar machine translation tools do offer a means for readers to achieve a basic understanding of a text, computers fail to render the nuanced, culturally correct translations created by humans. Machine translation frequently proves useful to decipher blogs, Facebook posts or tweets in a foreign language, but this technology falls short when the occasion calls for precise language, carefully crafted wording, and subtle turns of phrase.

Machine translation will never learn to pick up on the cultural undertones and subtleties at play in language. Jokes, idioms and wordplay are largely lost on Google Translate, which fails to capture the “flavor” of the text.

The following types of translations should never be left up to Google Translate or any other machine translation tool:

  • Sales and marketing texts requiring both linguistic and cultural understanding
  • Patent translations or other technical literature where accuracy carries great importance
  • Medical and pharmaceutical texts, particularly when such information may mean a matter of life or death
  • Legal texts such as contracts, court orders, and wills, where any error in the text may have profound legal implications
  • Any document that represents the public face of your business or organization, including websites, brochures, manuals, etc.

Recently, some translation service providers have begun offering post-edited machine translations as an alternative to professional human translations; however, it is the experience of many translation agencies that it actually takes more time for a skilled translator to proofread and edit a machine translation than to create a translation from scratch.

A high quality translation of your documents, website, etc. will prove to be invaluable in terms of projecting an image of professionalism and integrity for your business or organization. Open up your product or business to an audience of some 330 million Spanish speakers worldwide through a professional translation of your text. A relatively modest investment in translated materials for your business will continue to pay dividends long into the future.

Request your Free Quote for Spanish Translations and Portuguese Translations.

Related articles:
Google Translate and the Struggle for Accurate Machine Translations
The Machine Translation Debate
Machine Translation vs. Human Translation: Pay Less, Get Less

Lunfardo: Money Talk

Published on May 19, 2011 in Languages, Latinos, Lunfardo, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments

Argentine Spanish is strewn with words and colorful phrases from Lunfardo, a rich vocabulary born on the streets of Buenos Aires in the second half of the 19th century. Now considered a fixture of the Spanish language in Argentina (especially in and around Buenos Aires) and Uruguay, linguists cite the use of Lunfardo as a defining characteristic of the Rioplatense dialect. Add a dash of Argentine flavor to your Spanish vocabulary with the Transpanish blog’s ongoing feature highlighting some of the most frequently used terms in Lunfardo.

While Lunfardo features a number of words to refer to money in general, it also employs several terms to describe specific currency denominations.

Term Meaning
guita one cent [also used as a general term for money]
mango one peso
diego [considered a non-standard term by Lunfardo purists] ten pesos
gamba one hundred pesos
luca one thousand pesos
palo one million pesos

Unless otherwise specified, these terms always denote Argentine legal tender. If the speaker wishes to refer to a foreign currency, there are special terms that are affixed to the quantity. For example, verde is used in reference to U.S. dollars (e.g. 5 gambas verdes = 500 dollars). Speakers tack on euro after the quantity if discussing euros, the currency of the European Union (e.g. 10 lucas euros = 10,000 euros).

In addition, it’s best to use the term for the largest quantity applicable, i.e. 20 palos instead of 20,000,000 mangos or 20,000 lucas to express the sum of 20 million pesos.

Also read
Linguistic Features of Rioplatense (River Plate) Spanish
Meaning of Guita
The meaning of Yeta
Meaning of Atorrante

Language an Obstacle for Internet Users in European Union

Published on May 13, 2011 in English Language, Languages, News, Portuguese Language, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators and Translation Buyers. 1 Comment

A recent study conducted by Eurobarometer, the European Commission’s survey research program, found that more than 50% of Internet users in the European Union (EU) sometimes access the web using a language other than their mother tongue. In addition, the study revealed that 90% of EU Internet users show a preference for websites featured in their native language.

Nonetheless, 44% of survey respondents sensed that they were “missing something interesting online” since a number of websites display information in a language they don’t comprehend.

Neelie Kroes, the European Commissioner for Digital Agenda, wrote, “If we are serious about making every European digital, we need to make sure that they can understand the web content they want. We are developing new technologies that can help people that cannot understand a foreign language.”

At the present time, the European Commission is funding 67 million euros’ worth of research projects to enhance translation techniques for online content, including the site iTranslate4, which generates machine translations of several European languages.

For more information on this topic, read this article on the news site Deutsche Welle.

Marketing to Latinos through Social Media

Published on May 3, 2011 in Languages, Latinos, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments

In the past, marketing strategists rarely targeted Hispanics through social media or other forms of digital marketing. However, according to the latest research studies, companies have slowly come around to the idea of wooing the Latino population through social media campaigns, and with good reason.

The total number of Hispanics logging on to the Internet shot up 16% over the past year. During that same period, the Hispanic presence on Facebook almost tripled, bringing the total number of users on the social networking giant to some 22 million as of March 2011. Additionally, Latinos demonstrate active usage of the service, with Hispanics averaging 29 minutes per week on Facebook versus non-Hispanic whites who visit the site for 19 minutes.

In terms of Twitter, social media’s other darling, a study conducted last fall found that 18% of Hispanic respondents who go online have a Twitter account, versus 13% of non-Hispanic blacks and 5% of non-Hispanic whites. In fact, Latinos constitute the largest ethnic group on Twitter.

While it’s obvious that Latinos have caught social media fever, as marketing expert Gustavo Razzetti notes, “…There’s a huge gap between Latinos’ usage of Facebook and real engagement with brands through their Spanish pages.”[1]

So, how do marketers take advantage of Latinos’ growing presence in social media to promote their brands?

Marketers must realize that an effective social media campaign directed at the Latino segment will involve more than just a mere translation of the existing English-language campaign. Hispanics are eager to connect with content and engage in a dialog with their favorite brands, so companies should provide opportunities for consumers to interact bilingually or in their preferred language. In addition, they must consider how the English-language and Spanish-language pages can complement each other and create synergy, rather than just duplicating the message in another language, since many users will likely visit both pages if companies offer unique content.

Although Twitter offers a different format for customer engagement, the keys to successful corporate marketing on Twitter are to 1) jump in on existing conversations that are taking place within the Latino community to develop brand awareness and 2) get consumers to join in on the conversation about the company’s brand. Live chats on Twitter also provide sponsorship opportunities that may prove attractive to advertisers.

[1] Latinos and Facebook: The Marketing Gap by Gustavo Razzetti

Related Articles:

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Top reasons why you should target the Hispanic Community

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Lunfardo: What Does “Guita” Mean?

Published on April 28, 2011 in Did you know?, Languages, Lunfardo, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments

Argentine Spanish is strewn with words and colorful phrases from Lunfardo, a rich vocabulary born on the streets of Buenos Aires in the second half of the 19th century. Now considered a fixture of the Spanish language in Argentina (especially in and around Buenos Aires) and Uruguay, linguists cite the use of Lunfardo as a defining characteristic of the Rioplatense dialect. Add a dash of Argentine flavor to your Spanish vocabulary with the Transpanish blog’s ongoing feature highlighting some of the most frequently used terms in Lunfardo.

The Meaning of Guita

In Lunfardo, the word “guita” means “money” or “cash.” The word “dinero” (money) is not frequently heard in Argentina, with speakers tending to favor the word “plata” instead. The term “guita” is in widespread use throughout Argentina. In addition to guita, you may run across the words “mango,” “vento,” “sope” (a reversal of the syllables in the word “peso”), and “mosca” in a discussion about money. Also the word “guita” is equivalent to cent or “peso” (Argentine currency).

The word “guita” turns up in the lyrics of the tango “Al mundo le falta un tornillo” by José María Aguilar  and Enrique Cadícamo

Todo el mundo está en la estufa,
Triste, amargao y sin garufa,
neurasténico y cortao…
Se acabaron los robustos,
si hasta yo, que daba gusto,
¡cuatro kilos he bajao!
Hoy no hay guita ni de asalto
y el puchero está tan alto
que hay que usar el trampolín.
Si habrá crisis, bronca y hambre,
que el que compra diez de fiambre
hoy se morfa hasta el piolín.

Hoy se vive de prepo
y se duerme apurao.
Y la chiva hasta a Cristo
se la han afeitao…
Hoy se lleva a empeñar
al amigo más fiel,
nadie invita a morfar…

…

Also read
Linguistic Features of Rioplatense (River Plate) Spanish
Lunfardo: Money Talk
The meaning of yeta
Meaning of “pibe”

Celebrate Spanish Language Day!

Published on April 23, 2011 in Did you know?, Languages and Spanish Language. 0 Comments

Lovers of Spanish, did you know there’s a special day set aside to honor your favorite language? Observed throughout the Spanish-speaking world, Spanish Language Day (El Día del Idioma Español) – celebrated on April 23 – aims to highlight the richness and vitality of the Spanish language. Cultural centers and libraries throughout Spain and Latin America will mark the occasion with readings, films, storytelling, book fairs, and children’s workshops throughout the day.

The date chosen for Spanish Language Day commemorates the death of one of the most significant and best-known Spanish language authors, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Literary scholars consider Don Quixote, Cervantes’ classic work penned in the 17th century, to be one of the most important pieces of fiction of all time.

El Día del Idioma Español dates back to 1926, when Valencian writer Vicente Clavel Andrés first proposed the idea of a special day dedicated to celebrating literature. The tradition began in Valencia and gradually spread throughout all of Spain. In 1964, the celebration was adopted by all Spanish-speaking countries.

Some useful articles:
Linguistic Features of Rioplatense (River Plate) Spanish
The Future of Spanish in the United States
Spanish in the World
New Spanish Spelling Reforms from the RAE
Castilian Spanish Versus Latin American Spanish
The Influence of Arabic on the Spanish Language
10 Free Online Resources for Spanish Language Learners

Google Strikes Deal to Translate European Patents

Published on March 28, 2011 in English Language, Languages, News, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments

Last week Google announced an agreement with the European Patent Office (EPO) to translate approximately 50 million patents using the search giant’s Internet-based translation tool, Google Translate. Google and authorities at the EPO will collaborate to translate patents into 32 different languages.

Patent researchers, scientists and others will be able to conduct searches for patents in German, French and English, the patent authority’s three official languages. The EPO site’s users may then obtain an instant translation of the patent documentation into languages such as Russian, Japanese or Spanish. It’s important to note that these translations are being made available purely for research and information purposes; they are in no way meant to substitute for official patent translations done by professional translators, as mandated by law.

The EPO will grant Google access to all previously translated patents, which amount to some 1.5 million documents in addition to 50,000 new patents per year.

Officials at the patent office expect the project to be finalized by 2014.

For more information, visit EPO.org.

Also read:
The machine translation debate

Google Translate and the Struggle for Accurate Machine Translations

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