World Cup Attracts Multilingual Audiences
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 […]
Recent Translation and Language News
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 […]
Concern for Trademark Infringement in Spanish
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 […]
Foreign Language Study Abroad
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 […]
The Importance of Translating Foreign Texts
The reluctance of publishers in the English-speaking world to translate works from other languages truly boggles the mind. At a point in the world’s history in which we are more connected than ever before, America and the rest of the Anglophone world remain remarkably isolated from the literary contributions of other languages and cultures. The […]
Transcreation: Specialized Translation for Marketing
The translation of marketing and promotional materials presents unique challenges, not only from a language standpoint but from a cultural one as well. Translations of advertising copy must strive for something beyond technical accuracy; just like the carefully-crafted original text, the translation of a marketing message must be both engaging and culturally relevant to the target […]
Constructed Languages
Though thousands of natural languages are spoken throughout the world, constructed languages – also known as conlangs or artlangs – peacefully coexist (often in obscurity) alongside them. Unlike the natural evolution that led to the creation of most languages spoken today, a constructed language’s elements have been consciously formulated by one or more individuals. There […]
The Machine Translation Debate
Although computer scientists have toiled for decades to produce machine translation comparable to that rendered by humans, they have yet to succeed. In critical moments when human translation or interpretation is simply not an option due to logistical constraints (e.g. rescue efforts during the recent earthquake in Haiti), machine translation can be a literal lifesaver; […]
Accent Reduction Techniques
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 […]
Borges as Translator
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 […]
