Summary: This blog post from GTS Translation discusses the potential of French to be a significant language in the future, highlighting its current status as the fifth most spoken language worldwide, its role in business, and its prevalence on the internet. It emphasizes the geographical distribution of Francophones, with a significant portion in Africa, and …
Language
The State of Language Translation in the European Union (EU)
Since Brexit, there are 27 member states in the European Union in which 24 different official languages are spoken. This makes translation a hot topic in the EU. The most common languages are English, German and French, which, including Spanish, often also function as relay languages. ( A relay language is the translation from an …
Portuguese: are we going to Brazil or to Portugal?
Portuguese is spoken by about 250 Million people worldwide. It is possible for a Portuguese and a Brazilian to be able to converse with each other in an intelligible way. But this only happens withย a certain effortย on both sides.ย In general, the two understand each other because both Brazil and Portugal speak the same language. In …
Localizing for Europe’s Small Countries
When it comes to countries, bigger isn’t always better. Although Europe’s smallest countries are tiny enough to be overlooked, each of them has a fascinating history and many intriguing attractions to discover, from beautiful scenery to historic cities to excellent museums. Read on to learn more about Europe’s seven smallest countries, the languages spoken in …
Localizing for Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a region in Northern Europe which is comprised of five countries: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland. The combined population of these countries is about 27 million. Which is far less than the populations of single Western European countries like Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Russia and the UK. Localizing for Scandinavia means translating …
10 Yiddish Words that Infiltrated the English Language
Yiddish is mainly spoken today by several hundred thousand Hasidic Jews in the USA and in Israel. It is a Germanic dialect which is written using the Hebrew alphabet. Yiddish, which means Jewish, was spoken by several million people before World War II. Yiddish is commonly referred to by Ashkenazi Jews as “Mama Loshon,” which …
10 Spanish Sayings Worth Remembering
What is a saying? This is the dictionary definition: a short, pithy expression that generally contains advice or wisdom. If a saying becomes famous it is for a reason. A few catchy words that pack a powerful message, one of popular wisdom. Sayings usually teach us a lesson or moral. Each language has its own …
10 Hebrew Words that have no English translation
One of the problems that face translators is that some words have no equivalent in other languages. This can also pose a challenge to people who are non-native speakers of a language, since second language speakers tend to process spoken language through internalized translation. Hebrew is one of the most ancient languages in existence. But …
How German Became the Money Language
Europe, being the epitome of the diverse ancient background, has twenty-four official languages, with German being the first, French second and Italian third. Europe also has more than 60 regional and minority languages. This undeniably powerful language, German, is challenging to learn but offers many benefits that other languages don’t. Some recent reports claim that …
German Language 101
German is a language with a long history and many interesting facets.ย Spoken as the official language in Germany, Austria, parts of Switzerland, and the miniscule state of Liechtenstein, and as a minority language in several other European countries, German has a base of native speakers numbering almost 100 million. The German-speaking lands have also …
Thai Language – What Time Is It?
Thai is a fascinating language. It has a neat logic to the way some words are put together. A visitor to Thailand must keep in mind that not all Thais are fluent in English. The same as a person whose native language is English may not be fluent in French or German. But here is …
6 Korean YouTube Channels to Help You Learn Korean
South Korea has now become a top country many people want to visit. Itโs the land of the exciting K-Pop, K-dramas, world-famous kimchi, 12-step skincare routine, tech giants Samsung โ you name it. And if you plan to visit the country or simply just to feel even more connected with the culture, the Korean language …
Google launches new app to preserve endangered languages
A new Google application has been developed with the aim of preserving and teaching indigenous languages which are also endangered. This includes Maori, Creole, Yiddish, Yugambeh and others. The app is written in open source, and learning is done by photographing objects and translating them in real time. This was announced this week on the …