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French is one of the world’s most widely spoken languages, one of the few to be spoken on every continent, and ranked the sixth most widely spoken language after Mandarin Chinese (over a billion speakers), English, Hindi, Spanish, and Arabic. It is an official language of 29 countries, second only to English. There are currently over 220 million French…
Let’s finish our world tour of holiday traditions… Are you feeling festive yet? Central America In Guatemala’s villages, local men in devil costumes appear on the streets and chase children during the first week of Advent. The devilish period ends on December 7 with a folk ritual known as “La Quema del Diablo” (The Burning of the Devil),…
Travel around the world with Chang-Castillo and Associates as we explore holiday traditions in various countries. Hanukkah Hanukkah, also spelled Chanukah, is the Jewish eight-day, wintertime “festival of lights,” celebrated with a nightly menorah lighting, dreidel spinning and feasting on fried foods. The Hebrew word Chanukah means “rededication”. The Holy Land was ruled by the…
Glossaries and style guides are tools of the translator’s trade We sometimes read poor quality translations provided by our clients that have completely different tones, voices, perspectives or turns of phrase. This indicates to us that previous translators have not had the benefit of tools that help ensure consistency – glossaries and style guides. In…
While Google is an effective tool for finding almost any kind of business, including language service providers, an impressive website isn’t enough. We strongly advise you, as a prospective client of a language services firm, to go the extra mile researching the credentials, backgrounds and work experience advertised by various translators and interpreters before signing…
From an industry standpoint, Paris, France is considered the simultaneous interpretation and translation capital of the world. From a business standpoint, it’s one of Europe’s (and the world’s) most important cities. To top that all off, the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Arc de Triomphe and countless other tourist attractions make the “City of Lights” one of…
While misconceptions about translators and interpreters are common, they can also prevent you from hiring the right professional for the job. In this article, we’ll share seven of the most common misconceptions about translators. Stay tuned for next month’s post, which will cover common misconceptions about interpreters. No matter what your needs are, learning more…
Tell me a little bit about yourself. I was born in Nicaragua to a Chinese-Nicaraguan father and a Spanish-Nicaraguan mother. I emigrated to the US as a child, coming back to Central America (Costa Rica, Honduras, and of course, my dear Nicaragua) to study during the summertime throughout my childhood and college. Both my parents’…
At multinational events, professional conference interpreters rely on several working languages. Obviously, interpreters are considered by most people to be bilingual – fluent in two languages. However, many of us are actually multilingual and we work in what we call A, B and C Languages. The majority of professional conference-level interpreters speak two to four…
At the most basic level, you hire a team of professional interpreters to communicate your message via the target audience’s preferred language. From a macro perspective, there is so much more going on than that. From the way your interpreter team looks and dresses, to their personal conduct and the manner by which they handle a…