Castilian Spanish – so named for its roots in the region of Castile – emerged from Spain’s many regional languages and dialects to become the primary language of the nation. Castilian Spanish was later brought to the New World through the colonization efforts of the Spanish, where the language enjoyed widespread adoption throughout the Americas. Over time, Latin American Spanish has evolved in its own right to contain various features that distinguish it from European Spanish.

The use of the term “castellano” as opposed to “español” when referring to the Spanish language may be interpreted in a number of ways. Since there are several official languages in Spain including Catalan, Basque, and Galician, the word “castellano” is often used to differentiate the Spanish language from these regional languages. Castellano may also be used to refer to regional dialects of the Spanish language spoken in Castile, for example, Andalusian. Many times – particularly outside of Spain – castellano and español are utilized interchangeably and simply refer to the Spanish language as a whole.

The terms Castilian Spanish or castellano are often used to draw a distinction between the Spanish spoken in Spain (Peninsular Spanish) and Latin American Spanish; however, this usage is somewhat misleading since Spanish speakers in Latin America also speak what are essentially dialects of Castilian Spanish as opposed to a distinct language, as is often implied.

Many Spanish speakers in Latin America customarily refer to their language as castellano as opposed to español. For example, Southern Cone countries such as Argentina and Uruguay have a tendency to refer to Spanish as castellano, while other parts of South America alternate between the use of the terms español and castellano. In the U.S., Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, Spanish is almost exclusively referred to as español.

While there is no generic form of Latin American Spanish, many countries share several features of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar that set apart Latin American Spanish from Castilian Spanish.

Read more about Latin American Spanish and Castilian Spanish

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Spanish has earned a place among the top three most widely used languages on the Internet. Trailing behind English and Chinese, it’s estimated that 136 million users – or roughly one third of all Spanish speakers – communicate and consume content on the web en español. Spanish speakers account for eight percent of the world’s total population of Internet users. The presence of Spanish speakers on the Internet has grown considerably over the past three years, and there are now some 681 million pages in Spanish according to Google.

About 8.4 million Spaniards get their news online through the computer, with an additional 2.9 million users accessing news links through their mobile phones. Twenty percent of these users spend three hours per month catching up on the news, a reality that has helped online newspapers overtake traditional print media. The profile of an average consumer of digital media in Spanish is a male under the age of 45.

Get more details here at Tendencias 21 [in Spanish].

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The FIFA World Cup – soccer’s premier sporting event – is coming to African soil for the first time in history. South Africa will play host to 32 national soccer teams and 350,000 foreign visitors during the month-long event, requiring that both linguistic and cultural barriers be bridged for the global cast of players, organizers and fans who will be in attendance.

Demand for website localization, translation, editing and voice-over projects has increased exponentially in advance of the international sporting event. Written translations for the World Cup are mandatory for each of the 11 official languages of South Africa, in addition to the languages of the participating teams. In an effort to reach as many fans as possible, the World Cup website has been translated into Arabic, English, French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Organizers predict that 450 to 500 million viewers from around the globe will tune in to this year’s World Cup.

For more information, see this article at Global Watchtower.

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Here are some of the top language-related stories from the last month:

1. The recently elected president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, sports an animal last name. Could the warm and fuzzy appeal of her name have helped her to get elected?

2. As part of the state’s new comprehensive immigration reform, Arizona now requires that any teacher instructing students in the English language speak without a heavy accent.

3. Renowned scientist Stephen Hawking ponders what sort of language humans would require to communicate effectively with extraterrestrials should they one day make contact with our planet.

4. Bad translations are the order of the day. A recent diplomatic visit to Washington D.C. by Mexican President Felipe Calderón was marred due to lackluster interpretation of his comments by a substitute interpreter.

5. The Eurovision Song Contest is perennially plagued with bad English translations, and this year was no exception.

6. Icelandic-English translators can barely keep pace with the flood of financial documents resulting from Iceland’s economic collapse.

For more information, visit this article at The World.

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With an ever-growing number of businesses looking to cash in on the growth of the Hispanic market in the U.S., English-language trademarks have become increasingly susceptible to infringement by companies looking to take marketing shortcuts.

So, what exactly constitutes trademark infringement? To qualify as infringement, the translation into Spanish must be determined to be direct and literal. In addition, it is difficult to prove copyright infringement in cases where the English-language trademark consists merely of a service or product description (e.g. jeans branded with the name “Rugged Pants”).

In order to protect your business’ English-language trademark, first hire a professional translator to produce one or more possible Spanish translations of your copyrighted name. The following steps may then be taken to avoid trademark infringement:

1)      Hand over the translations to a trademark-watching firm, which will warn your company of any potentially conflicting trademarks.

2)      Set up a Google Alert to receive notifications about a specific word or phrase to sniff out companies that may be using your trademarked name online.

3)      Monitor new trademark registration application filings at http://www.USPTO.gov.

4)      Ask Spanish-speaking colleagues with a finger on the pulse of the Hispanic community to remain vigilant.

Read more about this issue at the Richmond Times-Dispatch website.

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While it’s possible to achieve a high level of proficiency in a foreign language while studying in your home country, in order to take your skills to the next level, it’s essential to be immersed in the language. Language study with native speakers in a foreign country opens you up to the possibility of a more well-rounded experience, as you’ll be able to enjoy the culture together with the language.

Be sure to carefully weigh your options when planning for a foreign language study abroad experience. For example, if you’re interested in Spanish, there are over 20 Spanish-speaking countries to consider, each with its own unique culture, accent and slang. Do some research to determine which locations fit best with your language goals. If you want to improve your Spanish for use on the job, and the people you’re likely to be in contact with are primarily from Latin America, you may want to skip a language immersion experience in Spain in favor of, say, Mexico.

If you’re interested in studying a more obscure tongue like Icelandic or Luxembourgish, studying abroad may be your only opportunity to truly get a handle on the language, as access to native speakers and learning materials in these languages are most likely extremely limited in your home country.

Once you’re in country, one of the keys to gaining fluency is to reinforce classroom study through real world interactions. Don’t be afraid to take what you’ve learned in your language classes and practice it outside the classroom: go to the movies, chat up the locals, join a club or team. You’re bound to make mistakes as you go along, but language foibles come with the territory. Just remember to keep a sense of humor!

Lastly, it’s worth mentioning that merely visiting or living in a foreign country isn’t enough to help you perfect your skills – just ask the thousands of expats who successfully live for years on end in a foreign country without ever mastering the language. If you confine yourself to the “expat bubble,” you’ll spend the majority of your time surrounded by those who speak your native tongue, depriving yourself of the chance to exercise your foreign language muscle. Get out there and interact with the natives!

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While the content of a translation is always of utmost importance, the presentation of that content should not be underestimated. Even the best translation can flop if it is presented in an unprofessional manner. Desktop publishing (DTP) ensures that a translation delivers visual impact, with a design that complements and enhances the written word. Using sophisticated programs such as QuarkXPress, Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe InDesign and PageMaker, a completed translation can be inserted into any number of file types, which may or may not include graphics, for use in presentations, advertising, web layouts, etc. The desktop publishing phase is not usually handled by the translator; instead, it is assigned to a team member with specific desktop publishing and design experience.

Documents translated from English to Spanish often contain up to 20% more words – a concept known as text expansion – as it often takes more words to express the same idea in Spanish. Text expansion may result in a visually-crowded document that is difficult to read, since an increased number of words must fit in the same design. To prevent higher formatting costs down the road, documents should be designed with adequate white space to accommodate text expansion.

Designers must be sensitive to the fact that the Spanish language includes characters and punctuation not found in English. The desktop publisher will ensure that special characters appearing in the Spanish translation such as á, é, í, ó, ú, ü and ñ are preserved in the final product. Special attention should also be paid to the uniquely Spanish inverted question and exclamation marks (¿ and ¡) as well as angular quotes (« and »). Desktop publishers should carefully select digital typefaces, as some fonts do not contain these characters. It is also worthwhile to experiment with different fonts in order to choose one where the accent marks do not appear to merge into the accented letters.

Lastly, a crucial element of desktop publishing is a visual assessment of each project to make sure it is acceptable from a cultural perspective. The use of certain images or colors may be perceived as offensive in some cultures and must be adapted for the local market.

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Apparently, speaking Spanish in the United States can be hazardous to one’s health. According to a recent study to be published in the journal Pediatrics, Spanish speakers are exposed to an unacceptable number of grave translation errors in the instructions provided with prescription medications. Pharmacists’ computers frequently deliver “Spanglish” translations, which ultimately pose a threat to patients’ health, as they are open to misinterpretation and therefore possible overdose. Overloaded pharmacists who are lacking Spanish-language skills simply do not have the time or ability to review the prescription labels for errors.

The best way that non-English speaking patients can protect themselves from misunderstandings when dealing with medical professionals is to request an interpreter or translator with expertise in the medical field in order to receive instructions and other vital information in their native tongue. In addition, the pharmaceutical industry should push for the hiring of more bilingual pharmacists and the development of more advanced pharmacy prescription software that produces clearer translations when the use of automatic translation is unavoidable.

Click here for more information on this story from HealthDay.com.

Visit our Pharmaceutical Glossary for English and Spanish terms and our Pharmaceutical Abbreviations section for English and Spanish Meaning of Latin Abbreviations in the Pharmacy Industry.

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Though many learn to express themselves quite masterfully in a foreign language, most speakers of a language other than their mother tongue can still be easily identified by their accent. Most of the time, an accent poses no problems in terms of intelligibility; indeed, many people find foreign accents charming. However, if your accent interferes with native speakers’ ability to understand you, or you’re simply looking to blend more with the locals, here are some tips for reducing your accent. Remember: it’s very difficult to completely eliminate an accent. Instead, your goal should be to neutralize your accent.

» Don’t speak too quickly. Native speakers will have a difficult time understanding you until you learn the correct intonation and rhythm of the language. Speak slowly so that you can enunciate each word.

» Observe and imitate the facial movements of native speakers. When watching television or conversing with native speakers, take note of the facial movements of the person speaking in order to more accurately reproduce the sounds of the language.

» Record your own voice and listen for errors in pronunciation. Become more aware of the mistakes you’re making by listening to a recording of your voice.

» Read aloud every day for 15 to 20 minutes. This exercise will help strengthen the facial muscles you use when speaking a language other than your native tongue.

» Become accustomed to the prosody or “music” of the language. Each language has its own rhythm, intonation/tone, and pausing. Familiarize yourself with these patterns in order to speak more naturally.

» Listen to audiobooks and follow along using a printed version of the text. You can also make a recording of yourself as you read portions of the book aloud, and then compare your speech to that of the audiobook’s narrator.

» Keep your dictionary handy. Familiarize yourself with your dictionary’s phonetic symbols, and look up the correct pronunciation of words that pose difficulty.

» Create a list of words that are difficult for you to say, and ask a native speaker to pronounce them for you. Make a recording of these words, listen, and practice saying them.

» Consider working with a speech-language pathologist or a dialect coach for professional evaluation and feedback.

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As one of Argentina’s most famed writers, Jorge Luis Borges produced numerous original works of fiction, poetry, and essays; however, a lesser-known fact is that Borges also made significant contributions to literature through his work as a translator.

Borges’ paternal grandmother was English, and he grew up in Buenos Aires speaking both Spanish and English at home. “Borges would later comment that the household was so bilingual that he was not even aware that English and Spanish were separate languages until later in his childhood.” [1] Borges also spent a portion of his formative years in Geneva, Switzerland, where he studied both French and German.

Borges demonstrated a talent for translation at a very young age. At just nine years old, his very first translation into Spanish – Oscar Wilde’s short story “The Happy Prince” – was published in a local newspaper. As a young adult, he began to write and translate poetry while living with his family in Spain, focusing on translation from English, French, and German into Spanish. Borges went on to translate and subtly transform the works of literary greats such as Edgar Allan Poe, Franz Kafka, Hermann Hesse, Rudyard Kipling, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, and G. K. Chesterton, and he was the first to translate the writings of Virginia Woolf and William Faulkner into the Spanish language.

Borges developed his own theories of translation through three key essays: “Las dos maneras de traducir” (1926), “Las versiones homéricas”(1932), and “Los traductores de Las mil y una noches” (1935). In these essays, Borges “challenges the idea that original texts are superior to translations and rejects the concept of a ‘definitive text.’” [2] Borges also puts forth the view that alternate and possibly contradictory translations of the same work can be equally compelling.

Borges’ reflection on translation nourished his creativity, and translation formed an integral part of the author’s literary process. “The intertwined functions of writing and translation for Borges ‘became nearly interchangeable practices of creation.’” [3] In fact, “not only did he argue that a text could be enhanced by a translation, he went further. For Borges…a translation could be more faithful to a work of literature than an original text.” [4]

Sources:
[1] Swarthmore University, The Garden of Jorge Luis Borges
[2] Periódicos Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
[3] Perilous Peripheries: The Place of Translation in Jorge Luis Borges
[4] The Chronicle of Higher Education, Invisible Work: Borges and Translation

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