STATS: English, Spanish and Portuguese on the Internet
English, Spanish and Portuguese comprise three of the top five languages on the Web. Let’s take a look at some statistics reflecting these languages’ influence on the Internet. English Number of native English-speaking users on the Web: 565.0 million (as of May 31, 2011) % of English-speaking Internet users with respect to total population of […]
How Knowing Spanish Can Help You Learn Portuguese
Knowledge of any Romance language automatically offers learners a leg-up when they undertake the study of another language in that family; however, those with a solid base in Spanish have a particular advantage when it comes to studying Portuguese, given that the two languages share a great deal of vocabulary and similar grammar. While linguistic […]
How to Type Foreign Language Characters and Accents
For translators, those studying a foreign language, or anyone living in a bilingual environment, the need to type foreign language characters or accents frequently arises. This situation poses a problem for those utilizing English language keyboards, since accent keys and other characters unique to Spanish or Portuguese, for example, are non-existent. However, it’s simple to […]
Translating for Non-profits
Non-profit organizations and NGOs focus on improving the lives of others through diverse initiatives targeted at issues such as housing, social welfare, the environment, health care, education and human rights. These organizations typically require translation services to effectively explain their vision to a global audience, carry out their campaigns and fundraising efforts, and to communicate […]
Target an Audience of 650 Million with Spanish and Portuguese Translations
As the competition in the global marketplace heats up, companies without a strategy for connecting with customers worldwide face a strong possibility of getting left behind. Savvy companies and organizations stand to capture upwards of a combined 650 million potential customers by incorporating Spanish and Portuguese translation into their business strategy. As the influence and […]
When Never to Use Google Translate
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 […]
Language an Obstacle for Internet Users in European Union
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 […]
Portuñol: A Blend of Spanish and Portuguese
Portuñol or portunhol – a dialect based on code-switching between Spanish and Portuguese – has resulted from prolonged contact between the inhabitants of border areas. Emerging over time as a sort of lingua franca for those living in immigrant communities or in trade zones where speakers lacked fluency in the other group’s language, portuñol can […]
Origin of the word Brazil
The name Brazil is derived from the Portuguese word pau–brasil, the name of an East Indian tree with reddish-brown wood from which a red dye was extracted. The Portuguese found a New World tree related to the Old World brasil tree when they explored what is now called Brazil, and as a result they named […]
Differences between Spanish and Portuguese
Both Spanish and Portuguese are Indo-European languages derived from Latin, and they developed on the Iberian Peninsula during roughly the same period. Though the two languages are closely related, important differences exist between Spanish and Portuguese, which can create problems for those acquainted with one of the languages when they try to learn the other. […]
