Language

Interpreter vs Translator

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Professional linguists and students of languages can choose from various career paths. Two of the mainstream occupations chosen by linguists are in the fields of interpretation and translation. What is a Linguist? A linguist is a person who studies or has studied language. But this is a very broad definition as there are many kinds of linguists. Some linguists focus on the structure of language and grammar. Computational linguists use computer and technology to deal with written and spoken [Read more...]

Six Powerhouse Languages that Expand Your Career Opportunities

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Knowing a second language makes your resume more impressive and opens doors to a wide variety of jobs. If you want a career in business, foreign relations, diplomacy, or the military, being proficient in a language other than English can help get you there. Writing and translation jobs also favor those who are bilingual. These six languages are among the most useful for English speakers to learn to impress prospective employers and increase career possibilities.SpanishSpanish is one of [Read more...]

Impact of the Port Explosion on the Translation Industry in Lebanon

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The Covid-19 pandemic in Lebanon is a crisis within a crisis. It occurred amidst a broader socio-economic meltdown that has shaken the country in recent months. This has affected all sectors, including the translation industry. Although the translation sector was already not in its prime, it was doing quite well compared to other industries during this sensitive period in Lebanon. I would also be remiss if I did not mention that translation services do not necessarily relate to any specific [Read more...]

Getting Started Learning Japanese the Easy Way

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If you grew up watching Dragon Ball Z or Naruto, or if you simply have a life-long infatuation with Japanese culture, you've probably thought about trying to learn the language. If you've spent any time trying to get started, you've probably been overwhelmed with the sheer amount of stuff you have to learn. Since the language is so different from English, it's almost like learning how to talk entirely over again. You may even have made multiple attempts and ended up becoming discouraged. Is [Read more...]

Chups or Chips? Deciphering Australian and New Zealand English

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As a New Zealander traveling the globe, it must be frustrating and tiresome to constantly hear the question “which part of Australia are you from?” To those who can't call the great country ‘down under’ or the ‘land of the long white cloud’ home, the difference between an Australian and a New Zealand accent is almost indistinguishable. But to those familiar with the rivalry between the two countries on either side of ‘the ditch’, there isn’t much worse than being from one and being labeled the [Read more...]

5 Ways Twitter Can Boost Your Foreign Language Skills

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The fastest and most efficient way of learning a foreign language has always been total immersion, using the language on a daily basis, almost to the exclusion of your mother tongue. For people who are not living in a country where their target language is spoken, this is easier said than done.Luckily for the modern language learner, the internet -- and especially social media -- offers unrivaled scope for interacting with native speakers on a daily basis, offering an excellent way of [Read more...]

Without impalas and hyenas, the lion cannot be the king of the jungle. The state of the translation industry in East Africa

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  Without impalas and hyenas, the lion cannot be the king of the jungle (African Proverb) The translation industry has been dominated by huge players from Europe, North America and East Asia overshadowing important translation initiatives in other parts of the world. But in the rapidly developing region of East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan), translation has been a booming industry for years.In an effort to shed some light on the state of the [Read more...]

WHAT LANGUAGE BARRIER?  CHINAWOOD – A CINEMA SENSATION ON THE RISE

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You have most probably heard of Hollywood and maybe even Bollywood…but what about Chinawood, the aptly given nickname for the Chinese film industry?Did you know that Chinawood is the second largest movie market globally after the United States and boasts a staggering 60,079 movie theater screens across the country compared with 40,000 in the USA? Clearly an indication that the country values movies and its own movie making capabilities.But what do we know about the Chinese film industry? [Read more...]

TCHAU TUPI, OLÁ PORTUGUÊS! THE BEAUTIFUL BLEND OF BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE

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Brazilian Portuguese is a widely spoken language, but what exactly is Brazilian Portuguese? A mix of Brazilian and Portuguese? It is not quite that simple. Fortunately, for those of us who cannot seem to get our head around the complexities of Brazilian Portuguese, there are plenty of brilliant Brazilian Portuguese Voiceover artists to help solve our language quandaries.But what indeed makes Brazilian Portuguese so different and unique?First. The distinctiveness in Brazilian Portuguese [Read more...]

The Romansh Language Lives

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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 [Read more...]

The state of the translation industry in North Korea

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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 [Read more...]

Grading the Democrat Spanish speakers at the debate

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_fKcQlkmZIThe 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 [Read more...]

Hinglish – the Biggest Language you’ve Never Heard of with 350 Million Speakers

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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 [Read more...]