Awkward: Showing up on time to a Puerto Rican party

June 24, 2011 1 Comment »

Following my last entry, I’m going to start off with some shocking and/or interesting statistics of the ever changing fabric of our American quilt.  While there are many demographics of immigrants and non-native English speakers in the US, this entry will focus primarily on the rapidly growing Hispanic population in the ...

Lost in Translation….. Subtitlation?

A couple of years ago, while I was studying in Argentina, I decided to go see a movie that my friends could not stop talking about: “The Hangover”. It was hilarious. I laughed out loud a million times….but I noticed that some times I was the only one laughing. Am I weird? Do I have […]...

Why should websites be translated into Spanish?

Did you know that the U.S. Hispanic population is the fastest-growing group in America? The U.S. Hispanic population has been reported to have surpassed the 50 million mark and has increased by more than 40% in the last 10 years. They are now the largest minority group in the U.S. In addition, the U.S. Hispanic […]...

V for Vendetta or… Version?

REVOLUTION. RIVOLUZIONE. RÉVOLUTION. REVOLIUTZIA. Whether in English, Italian, French or Russian, the word sounds pretty much the same. That is so because the term finds its roots in the Latin REVOLUTIO, which means “a turn around”. Odd enough, that’s not where the concept, as we know and use it nowadays, comes from....

The value of up-selling & cross selling.

June 13, 2011 1 Comment »

The value of up-selling & cross selling. To increase revenue and margins of an order by selling products / services at higher prices i.e. up-selling or by selling add-on products and accessories, a tactic also known as cross selling, share the idea of needing to prove our consumers that there is something in it for [&he...

Demand for Multilingual Products and Services On The Rise

While the US dollar is down many larger US firms are seeing an increasingly large demand of exports for their goods and services.   Consumers are seeing smaller dollar signs for US exports and multinationals trying to see their way in to untapped or smaller markets.   In fact, many international firms are seeing the wea...

“Assuming” Translation Services

June 1, 2011 2 Comments »

My entire life I grew up hearing from both my parents and school teachers “to assume, makes an A** out of U and ME”.  I always felt a jolt of annoyance flash through my body whenever this phrase leaped out of someone’s mouth.  I always thought to make an assumption was simply to not state […]...

Ernesto Sabato, unknown to many, a hero to a few.

May 31, 2011 4 Comments »

On May 2nd 2011, the world was cheering, waving flags, climbing trees, singing and dancing in the streets.Why?…You might ask. Well, because Osama bin Laden, the most wanted man in the world had been brutally murdered.  Now, let’s back up a little bit and take a trip down south….way down south, to a city that [&he...

We are in the top 100 blogs!

Spanish Translation US blog is one of the Top 100 Language Lovers Blogs. Please vote us at: http://www.lexiophiles.com/language-lovers-toplist/time-to-vote-for-your-favorite-language-professional-blog-2011 Top 100 Language Lovers 2011...

Types of Spanish Part 2

March 30, 2011 1 Comment »

International Spanish At an international conference held in Valladolid 15 years ago, “Spanish and the Media”, the then director of a Miami newspaper commented on the various nationalities of the newspapers’ readers and editors, all Spanish speakers, to which she added that the Spanish used could be descr...

Types of Spanish

I found an interesting article on the use of Spanish in the United States, which includes the opinions of several journalist and linguist on how to differentiate and unify Spanish. One of the main topics discussed is the possible and necessary standardization of Spanish in the media, mainly between international Spanish a...

A Spanish Style Manual for the Web

February 11, 2011 1 Comment »

Newspaper editors have style manuals that they follow as a bible. With online dictionaries or references gaining such a strong presence, a multimedia and multi-platform project has emerged that focuses on the proper use of language online and on social networks, blogging and new media. The BBVA Fundéu Foundation will cr...

Phone Interpretation: Human vs. Google Interpreter

Google announced that it would be introducing text-to-speech translation via google translate for Android in February 2011. It will be launched in English and Spanish, but will soon be available in more languages. The service consists of a three-step process: • Speech recognition and conversion into text. • Automatic t...

The Growing Popularity of the Spanish Language

A new study shows that there are more American college students in Spanish courses than any other foreign language. The survey published by the U.S. Modern Language Association (MLA) shows that despite the anti-immigrant movement of recent years and the increase in the number of university students who enroll in Arabic, Chi...

Shortage of Court Interpreters

There are approximately 2,500 certified court interpreters in the United States, of which only 500 translate from languages other than Spanish, stated Isabel Framer, President of the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT), in an article for El Universo. The need for certified court interprete...

Spanish Translation in the United States

It is fair to say that Spanish translation is the U.S. is divided equally between the domestic and international market. These markets each have their own idiosyncrasies that represent only one aspect of the language problem in the United States. U.S. based translations face a very different situation from that experienced...

Christmas Latino

The traditional American Christmas is usually celebrated until December 25, which is the official day of celebration. Children wake up as early, even when the day before was a struggle to get out of bed, and run to the Christmas tree to see what gifts Santa brought them. Adults try to sleep a late, but it’s […...

Crowdsourcing Translation

Crowdsourcing, also known as massive outsourcing or voluntary subcontracting, is outsourcing a task, that was traditionally done by an employee or a contractor, to a large group of people or a community through an open call. As of late, the Internet has used it to introduce and manage new projects. This is how it works: t...

A Language Rich in Vocabulary

November 30, 2010 1 Comment »

“There is no language so filthy as Spanish. There are words for all the vile words in English and there are other words and expressions that are used only in countries where blasphemy keeps pace with the austerity of religion.” – Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ch. 27 This quote from the famous [&hellip...

Twitter Celebrated its First Year in Spanish

Although it seems like Twitter has been with us a lifetime, the Spanish version is only one year old. Thanks to a community of volunteer translators the service began operating in Spanish on November 2, 2009. Gradually, it spread throughout Spanish-speaking users. Twitter managed to grow globally even more after adding thi...