Rhaeto-Romance, generally called Romansh, is a subfamily of the Romance languages. It has officially been the fourth national language of Switzerland since 1938. It is an official language in the Swiss canton of canton of Graubünden. In 2000 Romansh was recognized as the language which approximately 35,000 called it there mother tongue and approximately 61,000 used it as their primary language. The population censuses carried out between 2010 and 2014 cited Romansh as the primary language spoken by about 41,000 people.

The language is not spoken by many and is furthermore very complex. The complexity arose because the valleys of the Engadin are far apart and communication between the villages in the Engadin was difficult. Therefore, Romansh has been divided into five dialects, called idioms, each with its own standardized written language: High Engadinish (Puter), Low Engadinish (Vallader), Surmeirish (Surmiran, spoken in Surses and in the Albula Valley), Sutselvish (Sutsilvan, spoken in the anterior Rhine area) and Surselvish (Sursilvan, spoken in the anterior and posterior Rhine areas). In 1982 the common written language for the Romansh people, the controversial Rumantsch Grischun (RG), was created.

Romansh is above all used as a spoken language for most people. As all Romansh native speakers are at least bilingual and also speak German, the predominantly written language for the majority is German. However, there is a rich Romansh literature and the publishing house Chasa Editura Rumantscha was founded in 2010. Moreover, Romansh language newspapers have existed for more than 150 years. The Romansh paper with the largest circulation at the moment is the daily La Quotidiana. There is also a television company called Radiotelevisiun Svizra Rumantscha (RTR) with programs in Romansh. It is among other things responsible for broadcasting TV programs in Romansh, which can be watched on the Swiss channel SRF 1 with German subtitles. Some of these programs are also broadcast at the channels SRF info (with German subtitles) and RSI LA 2 (with Italian subtitles). The Romansh radio started 1925 and has been a part of RTR since 1954. The radio broadcasts 24 hours per day and almost only in Romansh. The exceptions are the German programs Rendez-vous and Echo der Zeit as well as the news from 00.00 to 5.00 pm. Currently, RTR also publishes the programs online on its news portal.

Another aspect of Romansch which should not be overlooked is its rich musical culture. Choirs have a long tradition in the Romansh-speaking areas. Today Romansh music also exists in many other genres like pop, rock, hip-hop, country, reggae, punk, chanson, schlager music and jazz.

The demand for professional Romansch translation exists for many different types of texts and for a wide range of clients. The translation service of the State Chancellery of the Canton of Grisons is responsible for translations into Romansh for the Grosser Rat of the Canton of Grisons (legislature), the Cantonal Government of the Canton of Grisons (executive), the State Chancellery of the Canton of Grisons as well as the other cantonal administrations. The types of text that are translated are: official texts of the Grosser Rat, the Cantonal Government, the States Chancellery as well as cantonal administrations, especially legal texts, governmental resolutions, departmental decrees, reports, press releases and correspondences.

The Swiss Federal Chancellery also translates some texts of the Federal Administration into Romansh. However, most of the texts that are translated into Romansh are done by the Lia Rumantscha, which is the umbrella association of all Romansh associations. When I worked at the Lia Rumantscha I translated among other things: texts for the teenage magazine SPICK from German into the Romansh idiom Sursilvan and the common written language Rumantsch Grischun (unfortunately the journal does not exist anymore in Romansh); complex technical texts for the project VerbaAlpina into Rumantsch Grischun (cross-linguistic online portal); texts from German into Rumantsch Grischun; the calendar of the Swiss Ornithological Institute from German into Rumantsch Grischun, texts for the platform nossaistorgia (photos and videos can be shared) from English, French and Italian into Rumantsch Grischun and texts from English into Rumantsch Grischun for a Chinese picture dictionary.

Since I started working as a freelance translator I have translated, among others, a picture dictionary from German into Rumantsch Grischun, a press release from German into Rumantsch Grischun, a package insert for a bracelet that can identify knockout drops from German into Rumantsch Grischun and subtitles for a institution that fights for the rights of the children.

Only 0.5% of the Swiss population speak Romansh. That is why it has been pronounced dead long time ago. However, the language is not dead, it lives.

About the author:  Prisca Derungs is a professional Rhaeto-Rom (Romansch) translator. You can find more information about her here.

North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong Un, are in the news today after President Trump initiated an impromptu meeting with the North Korean dictator in the DMZ. North Korea is shrouded in secrecy in just about all matters, including the translation industry. This post will try and shed some light on the state of the translation industry in North Korea. This information was obtained through an interview with a professional translator who used to work in North Korea and has relocated (defected?) to South Korea. For obvious reasons, this translator chose to remain anonymous.

In general, all dictatorships like North Korea control all media and communications very tightly. Translation is clearly a part of the communications chain and as such, it is very tightly regulated and controlled by the government.

Who provides language education to translators in North Korea?

Language training is controlled by the government. One of the main training centers for translators and interpreters is the Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies. As far as we know, this and other similar North Korean language schools accept nearly no foreign students.

Translators in North Korea do not use commercial software available to the world public. They use custom tools developed in North Korea.

The Democratic party debates took place on Tuesday and Wednesday (6.26 and 6.27) in Miami. There were two sets of debates, each featuring 10 candidates. The first set on Tuesday featured no less than three Spanish-speaking candidates on the same stage:
Beto O’Rourke, Cory Booker and Julian Castro. Since Miami, Florida has a large Spanish speaking population, each of the those candidates wanted to show off their Spanish skills to the constituents in the obvious hope of currying favor with them. The press had a field day with this, stating the motives of these candidates as “pandering.” If you ask me, it’s just politics as usual. All politicians engage in pandering of one sort or another. Watch the Spanish performances in this YouTube video.

Pandering or no pandering, we wanted to check how each of these candidates did. How good were their Spanish speaking skills? We put this to two senior members of our Spanish language team (Lucia and Tany) at GTS and this what they had to day:

Beto O’Rourke gets a B

Beto was the best of the lot.

Lucia

Beto’s Spanish is fluent. He has good pronunciation and he corrects himself when making a mistake. Here are some of the mistakes that he made:
Missing prepositions
Gender mismatch: “nuestro democracia” should be “nuestra democracia”
Subject-verb disagreement: “cada votante necesitamos” should be “cada votante necesita”
Wrong word order: “cada voz necesitamos escuchar” should be “necesitamos escuchar cada voz”

Tany

His overall pronunciation is not native but is acceptable and understandable.
There are several mistakes:
He says: “incuir cada persona” He should say: “incluir a cada persona”
He says: “en nuestro democracia”  He should say: “en nuestra democracia”
He says: “cada votante necesitamos la representación” (grammarly incorrect)
He should say: “necesitamos la representación de cada votante”
He says: “y cada voz necesitamos escuchar” (sounds unnatural)
He should say: “y necesitamos escuchar cada voz”.

Cory Booker gets a D

Lucia

Cory has poor pronunciation and it is a little difficult to understand what he is saying. He seems uncomfortable with the language. But he had no grammar mistakes.

Tany

His overall pronunciation is very unnatural and difficult to understand.
Besides he makes the following mistakes:
He says: “Es de presidente ha atacado”  He should say: “Este
presidente ha atacado”
He says: “ha dimonadado” (it is ununderstandable, it does not mean anything)
He says “ha dimonadado los inmigrantes” (grammar mistake)
He should say “ha ????? a los inmigrantes”
He says: “Es inaceptable, voy a a cambiar este”.
He should say: “Es inaceptable, voy a cambiar esto”.

Julian Castro gets a D

Lucia

Says just one sentence. Too little to evaluate.
“Me llamo Julián Castro y estoy postulando por presidente de los Estados Unidos.”
Personal pronoun missing, the correct version would be: “me estoy postulando…”

Tany

His overall pronunciation is like a native Spanish speaker, very understandable and natural. Nevertheless in his few words he makes a grammar mistake:
He says: “Estoy postulando por presidente”
He should say: “Estoy postulando para presidente”

Julian may actually not even be a Spanish speaker as he was born and raised in the USA. His grandparents spoke Spanish but it was probably not spoken much at his home. Most probably he practiced his 1-2 sentences until they came out OK.

In Summary

Beto O’Rorkue is the only fluent Spanish speaker of the three candidates who spoke Spanish on the stage. Hailing from El Paso with its relatively close proximity to Mexico and large Spanish speaking population, Beto obviously has good language skills as well. Is that enough to get elected to the White House? Probably not, but if Beto doesn’t make it he can always find a place for himself in the translation industry.

What if your company assisted customers in more than 85 languages but suddenly you realise that 350 million people speak a language you had ignored? It could happen to you as well if you are overlooking Hinglish. Because believe it or not, India does not have one ‘universal’ language. It has more than 8 major languages, but only 41% of the population consider the largest, Hindi, their first language. So for people to talk to one another, a compromise or a hybrid is needed. And that is where Hinglish comes in. But what is Hinglish? It is a mix of Indian languages (including Hindi) with a sprinkling of English.

WHY HINGLISH?

The Indian population is surprisingly mobile, the nation is going through both the industrial and information revolutions at the same time. Families migrate vast distances to urban areas for jobs, lifestyle and the perceived benefits of modern infrastructure. But with this movement comes challenges.

Since there are so many different Indian languages, it is common that two people do not speak the same one. That is why the use of a mix of languages (including English) is practical. English is often the only language in which two people who speak different Indian languages mutually understand a word for something.

Increasingly, using Hinglish is not only out of necessity, but also a proud demonstration that you are both modern (English-speaking) and locally-grounded (Indian language-speaking).

Whatever the background, the defining characteristic of Hinglish is that speakers naturally switch between two or more different languages (an Indian language, predominantly Hindi, and English) merging them into one.

A HISTORY OF HINGLISH

Hinglish is not a new phenomenon. The British rule or raj in India was central to the genesis of Hinglish. Without Hinglish, there would have been no trading and no spices! Hard to imagine a world without a Chicken Balti!

Thankfully the British quickly picked up on key Hindi (and other Indian language) words and phrases and the locals likewise learned English phrases.

EDUCATION

Since the British left over 50 years ago, English has, cemented its place more firmly as unifying point within the unofficial-official language of Hinglish.

Today’s most aspirational Indian parents send their children to schools where all lessons are taught in English. But ironically, although officially equipped for ‘English’, the students actually emerge speaking a language that is not really Hindi or English, but between the two. And that is how Hinglish grows stronger with each generation!

BOLLYWOOD

Bollywood has taken up the trend and played a vital role in the emergence of Hinglish. For example, popular Bollywood songs such as “My Mind Blowing Mahiya” are sung in fluent Hinglish. And many mainstream films contain both actual titles and spoken dialogue in Hinglish: “Love Aaj Kal (Or Love Today Tomorrow)” and “Badmaash Company (A Company of Dishonest Undisciplined Men)” both successfully use the Hinglish language in their actual titles and exploit the growing trend towards a multi-faceted, interchangeable language base.

BRANDING AND GLOBAL ADAPTION

In the last six years, digital advertising spend in India has increased by 500%!

Hinglish is now the broadcast language of choice for advertising in India. If you’re looking to export a product to the nation, Hinglish is the way to go.

In broadcasting, India’s MTV often broadcasts Hinglish voice over to engage with as many speakers as possible in just one language, and Pepsi are well known for their Hinglish Slogan – “Yeh Dil Mange More” (“Our hearts want more”)

And as a sign of global adaption, even Amazon’s Alexa now understands Hinglish commands, and – even more astounding – Alexa now responds in Hinglish. Clearly the language has arrived!

HINGLISH IN ENGLISH

It may surprise you how many Hinglish phrases have already made their way into the English language!

Bungalow– an Indian word adopted by the English.

Cash – a very English word for money?  Actually, no!  Cash originates from the Tamil word “kāsu” – which literally means “coin”.

Shampoo– this word also originates from Hindi – from the word “chumpee” meaning “massage”.

Thug- a “bandit”

Pyjamas – “pyjamas”

Pukka – which in English means “good” but in Hindi means “solid”

Whether we realise it or not- we have already adopted Hinglish into English! Observed this way, it could be said that Hinglish isn’t just used by Indians – but that in a minor way it is actually widely spoken throughout the English language!

A LIVING LANGUAGE

Although originally integrating English and Hindi words into the same sentence, as a living language, Hinglish has now taken further steps of evolution. Often one may find Hinglish speakers pairing words which fail to make sense in English, or are thought by the purist English speaker to convey a broken message, but in the “new” language of Hinglish, supposedly English words have come to mean new things (in Hinglish):

“First Class”-This does not actually refer to a premium ticket on a train but actually means “very well” – as in “How are you?” “First class” (meaning “I am very well, thank you”).

“Ji” – a suffix which is added to phrase to indicate a sentiment of respect. So rather than simply reply “OK” in response to a question, one adds on the suffix, “ji” – as in “OK ji”. It is a mark of respect for strangers or elders or betters.

Evolutionary, new uses of English like this – which would be relatively incomprehensible to the traditional or old-fashioned English speaker – are prevalent throughout the Indian subcontinent.

A LASTING PHENOMENON

Hinglish has not only been around for a while, but it is also one of (if not the) most exciting, evolving and growing languages in the world. Not only enabling different people to communicate, but also moving with their geographical and linguistic adaptations. Regardless of when or how the Hinglish hybrid language came to be, how it changes, or where it is used – as a ‘modern yet localised way of speaking which is also available to the masses’, it is well and truly here to stay!

The article is written by Simon Luckhurst, MD of Voice Talent Online. Voice Talent Online is a voice over agency, video translation and subtitling company in the United Kingdom that was founded 16 years ago.

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