The Russian word “перестройка” is a great example of a borrowed word that has entered the English language as “perestroika”. This technique is often used when the concept that is being translated doesn’t exist in exactly the same way in the target language. “Perestroika” means “restructuring” but the word “restructuring” doesn’t fully convey the exact process that was happening in the Soviet Union during the perestroika.
This week we celebrate UNESCO’s International Day Of Light. It is held on 16 May every year, to mark the day that the American physicist Theodore Maiman demonstrated the world’s first laser. Laser technology went on to revolutionise the world, becoming an integral part of our lives. The International Day Of Light is designed to…
Today is UN French Language Day! This celebration was started in 2010 to promote multilingualism and the diversity of culture as well as to promote the UN’s six official languages. To celebrate this, we look at some of our favourite French words and phrases. Retrouvailles The euphoric feeling when you meet someone again after…
Today celebrates the achievements made by women which have been globally celebrated since the early 1900s, with the United Nations celebrating International Women’s Day for the first time in 1975. In this blog, we take a look at how this ties into the translation profession and what the proportion of male to female translators looks…
UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day will be celebrated on 21st February with the theme of 2019 as “The International Year of Indigenous Languages”. But why are rare and local languages so important? Why should we work so hard to keep these languages alive? Fighting to keep these languages alive helps to preserve a community’s culture…
With Valentine’s day around the corner, we take a look at some of the most beautiful words and phrases associated with love in various different languages. Ya’arburnee: Literal translation: “You bury me” This Arabic phrase is the ultimate declaration of love. When this phrase is uttered to another person, the meaning is that you…
As we know, translators are often required in the film industry for subtitling and dubbing purposes. However, directors often call upon linguists to help construct completely new languages. These professionals are known as conlangers. In this article, we will look at the different languages that have been created for film and TV and the origins…
Speaking a second language can contribute to the overall functioning of the brain in several ways. In this blog we look at a few of the ways in which our brain is boosted by knowledge of a second language. MEMORY AND CONCENTRATION It has been shown that speakers of multiple languages have advanced memory…
With over six thousand languages spoken worldwide, in today’s industry, the various language combinations translation professionals can work with seems almost limitless. However, particular languages are obviously more in demand than others. In this article, we look at the most popular languages for translation and the reasons behind this. GERMAN As Europe’s largest economy,…