Let's start with a lightning round. What's the first thing that pops into your head when you think of Germany? The phrase German engineering, along with individual car makers like Mercedes-Benz, Audi, or Volkswagen, likely come to mind. Over the past twenty years, these car makers have done a great job…
While you may know that the Rosetta Stone is perhaps the most famous translation device in the world, there are probably other facts about this stone that you may not already know. The Discovery The Rosetta Stone was discovered by French forces in July 1799 in Rosetta, about 35 miles north of Alexandria,…
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past five years, it’s likely that you’ve heard of Game of Thrones. Ever since the award-laden television series launched back in 2011, it’s enjoyed a rabid fan following, inspiring countless think pieces, spoof tributes, popular memes and knock-off fantasy series trying…
When you’re providing marketing translations, it’s important to use the right words. You can make or break a company’s marketing campaign depending on the words you use. Although some English words are beautiful, like “mellifluous,” “serendipity” and “iridescent,” some of them can really hurt the ears, such as “regurgitate,” “pugilist”…
Translation is so simple – one might think. You type a word or sentence into automated translation software, and receive the translation in a language of your choice almost immediately. Translation is so difficult. Without a human eye trained in nuances of both languages, it's impossible to create text that…
So you've decided you need a translator. Perhaps your business operates internationally, of a significant part of your audience would prefer to read your materials in a foreign language. It's a great decision, particularly considering the drawbacks of some of the alternatives to professional translations. But realizing that you need…
Weeks before we knew the leaves would have it, translation services professionals in Europe were locked in debate. "What would a leave vote mean for the industry?" they asked, aloud and in print. The size of the industry alone made the question worthy: there are 23 officially recognized languages spoken…
When it comes to native speakers, English actually fares pretty poorly; there are more native speakers of Spanish and Mandarin than there are of English. But in terms of the total number of speakers, both native and as a secondary language, there’s really no comparison - there are believed to…
About 15 years ago, an article in the New York Times painted a bleak picture of the translation profession. Soon, it prophesied, freelance translators would be squeezed out of the market by large translation firms, while intelligent software able to conduct the same - and better - work would endanger…
There’s a bit of argument over who translated the Bible into English. Officially, the translation was completed by John Wycliffe, and that’s the name you’ll stumble across if you search for information about Bible translations into English. However, there is evidence that sections of the Bible were translated long before…