Category Archives: Language
The large role the United Nations (UN) plays in keeping our planet safe and secure is undeniable. Presently, 193 nations make up the UN, and if you’ve ever watched a session of the General Assembly, you might have wondered: with so many nationalities and languages represented, how do they communicate? The answer is simple. Translators and…
If you have seen the opening, closing, and medal ceremonies of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, you may have been surprised to hear so much French – even before English was spoken. Although the Olympic games have roots in ancient Greece, the French – and by extension, the French language – had a massive historical impact and role in the organization…
Due to recent immigration currents along with the explosion of innovative technology that keeps multinational relationships connected 24/7, there’s never been a stronger need for professional interpreters and translators who are in tune with emerging language trends in the major American market. A 2017 post on businesswire.com states, “The US holds various strategic, economic, and…
If you speak English, it may seem like a no-brainer that it has become the lingua franca, but that isn’t such a no-brainer if you live in a non-English speaking country – or are descended from those who speak other languages. Due to the combined effects of colonialization, globalization and – quite honestly – and…
Data recently published by the Census Bureau for 2017 shows roughly half of residents in America’s five largest cities now speak a language other than English at home. While China may have its fair share of the media limelight, economic experts proclaim it’s India we should pay close attention to. According to an article in…
Language has always been fluid. Otherwise, Americans would still be using “thee,” “thine”, and “thou,” and Shakespeare’s plays could remain footnote-free in English-speaking countries. However, the advent of social media, which thrives on abbreviations, conversational colloquialisms, and acronyms, has accelerated the natural evolution of language. That makes it challenging for businesses, organizations, and politics to…
Even the most multilingual heads of state and politicians utilize conference interpreters in important meetings and crucial events. They know when it comes to the fragile, silken threads that often bind international diplomacy on all fronts – political, professional and humanitarian – precise words are essential to fluid communication. This respect for language and its…
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…
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…
What do Arabic, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Afrikaans, Swahili, Wolof and Amharic all have in common? They are all languages spoken in Africa, and this list doesn’t even begin to cover all the myriad of smaller subsets of various language and indigenous languages and dialects that pepper this vast continent – There are thousands! Indeed,…