I found a few jokes for/about translators on a website. Maybe I’ve been at this job too long and they hit too close to home, but some of the jokes didn’t seem too funny to me. They reminded me of some hard times when I had just started out… But there were some others that […]...
People with little to no experience with a foreign language often assume that the process of translating is just replacing word A (source language) with word B (target language). This is how the most primitive machine translations functioned, subsequently butchering even the simplest of sentences: Original I am studying Spa...
Regionalisms are words or phrases that give a language its local color. They are common in one area, while rare, out of place or non-existent in another area. Some English examples of these would be the “lieu vs. bathroom,” “lift vs. elevator,” “ankle biter vs. rug rat,” etc. Native speak...
This is a brief tutorial that will get you started on the basics of Trados. Source: How to Get Started with Trados...
In this video tutorial you’ll learn how to process xml, xdt or mdb files to create a termbase in Multiterm (Spanish). Source: How to Import xml xdt mdb in Multiterm...
Finally a use for machine translations! The site www.translationparty.com is a simple, yet oddly addictive way to kill some time. It uses Google Translator to perform an indefinite number of back translations, typically producing something nonsensical and quite different from the original phrase. It’s kind of like the...
As translators, we need our memories to operate at a certain level in order to remember vocabulary, rules, collocations, maxims, exceptions to rules, etc. A few things that can help us with our memories comes from a great website known as The Brain Power Pages (where you can also find tips on taking full advantage […...
Do you ever get spam that makes absolutely no sense at all? Messages that say things like “summer slim-time muscle man science pill formulations”? Odds are that the original message was written in another language and then run through an online machine translator. Spammers worldwide have realized that they can ...
According to recent research from the University of Virginia (reported at BBC online and mentioned by Steve Gillman on The Brain Power Pages), a great deal of our mental abilities can reach their top potential by the age of 22, and begin to deteriorate at the age of 27… Bad news. But all’s not lost. […]...
Radio shock-jock and English Only supporter Michael Savage was one of sixteen people to be barred from entering the United Kingdom. Also included on this list issued by the UK Home Office were convicted skinhead murderers,a former Klu Klux Klan Grand Wizard and several members of Hamas. What does it take to get on this [&he...
English is invading Spanish! This is of course something of a two-way street, but it is hard to find a Spanish-speaking country whose dialect is not now infused with Anglicisms, loan words and outright bastardizations. This happens with all languages, but the number of English words sprinkled into daily Spanish can truly be...
An onomatopoeia (according to Webster’s definition) is “the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it.” These are used linguistically to describe sounds (boom, bang, click) and can even serve to express a thing or idea visually instead of aurally, like “zig-zag&...
A few years ago, the findings of a study were released that set off a bit of an uproar in the United States. The study contended that as of July 1st, 2050, the United States will have more Spanish speakers than any other country in the world. More than Mexico, more than Colombia, more than […]...
It is generally accepted that the Bible is the most widely translated book of all time. But what author has had the most work translated? Some will credit the Apostle Paul, who is believed to have penned many of the books in the Christian Bible. Others, including the Guiness Book of World Records, give that […]...
“Finnegan’s Wake” is a ballad from around 1850 and is in the traditional Irish folk song style. It is most famous for being the foundation of James Joyce’s masterpiece of the same name, in which the humorous resurrection of Tim Finnegan is symbolic of the never-ending cycle of life (a typical Celtic ...
Does the United States need a national language? Should federal documents and services (driver’s license exams, election ballots, etc.) be provided solely in English, no matter what language the recipient speaks? English advocacy groups in the US, including English First, Speak English and Pro English, are once again ...
The UK Haringey council recently came under fire for unwarranted spending on its translation program after computer records showed that over one third of the translations it deemed necessary and spent tax money on were not read even once. With over fifty million pounds spent on translations annually, government officials be...
I’ve talked before about the list of glossaries that a friend of mine put together (and which I’m sure she’ll add to in the future). While going through these glossaries, I came across a couple of little grammar problems in Spanish that can be troublesome. The first topic is the use of the personal pronoun...
Bad Santa — USA A Not so Saintly Santa — Argentina Santa is a Pervert — Czech Republic With such a straight forward original title, is such a liberal (and odd) translation of a movie title necessary? Marketing research and recent trends say yes. The title may be changed to account for cultural differences,...
I’ve touched on the topic briefly before, but a recent project led me to further investigate the differences between British English and American English. A quick Internet search on American and British spelling differences provided me with more information than I could possibly digest in a year. This topic is apparen...