Travel to South America : the things you should know

Jul 31, 2019 | Blog, Language Varieties, Testimonials, Tips, Worldwide

Travel to South America, the fourth largest of the world’s continents Ready to travel to South America? Here are some things you should know about it. Firstly, South America is located in the Western Hemisphere and constitutes the southern part of the Americas. Secondly, it consists of 12 independent countries— Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela —, the overseas department of French Guiana and some outlying islands. Thirdly, South America is connected to the rest of America by the Isthmus of Panama and is surrounded by the Caribbean Sea to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Lastly, South America is also home to a wide variety of climates, breathtaking landscapes and rich cultures with its north-south extent of about 4,700 miles and its east-west extent of about 3,300 miles. Feel like home South American people are known to be kind and warm hearted. When greeting, they tend to go for a kiss on the cheek, even when you haven’t been formally introduced to the other person. They are used to being open with foreign people and are always willing to show their culture to the rest of the world by sharing a mate with you, teaching you some capoeira moves or making you a delicious ceviche. Language variations When traveling to South America, you must remember that the main spoken language in most countries is Latin American Spanish, but it is not the only language used in this southern continent. Portuguese is the official language of Brazil, and other languages such as English,...

“El mate”: a special bond created by yerba mate

Jun 24, 2019 | Blog, Tips, Traditions, Worldwide

More than a drink Just as British people religiously enjoy their 5 o’clock tea, some countries in the southern hemisphere share a very popular drink: “el mate.” This tea-like infusion (also known as chimarrão in Brazil) is made with yerba mate and is enjoyed by children and adults at any time of day. What’s more, it has been an integral part of the culture in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and southern Brazil for many years now. So, let’s learn a little more about this important drink. Origin of “el mate” and yerba mate Yerba mate was already being consumed long before the “new world” was discovered. Actually, it was the Guaraní people who inhabited parts of South America who introduced the plant to the European settlers. The settlers began to cultivate it and to make it well-known throughout the rest of the southern regions. Although the yerba mate cropping tradition almost disappeared when the Jesuits were expelled from the region, native people took over and transformed it into commercial harvesting. “El mate” is also related to the image of “el gaucho”, a popular cowboy-like figure from Argentina, Uruguay and the southern part of Brazil. El gaucho is commonly depicted as a horseman dressed in leather boots or espadrilles, a long-sleeved cotton shirt and baggy pants (bombacha), carrying a bola (best known as boleadora) or a long gaucho knife (facón). How to prepare “el mate” First of all, to start “el mate” we need the following things: Yerba mate –that is, the processed ground leaves of the yerba mate plant.A mate –that is, the receptacle where we’ll put the yerba mate....

Humour in Translation: How to translate a foreign joke?

May 17, 2019 | Blog

To laugh or not to laugh ? That is the question We all love to hear a good joke and laugh every once in a while. It makes us feel good and helps us leave our troubles behind. You know what they say, “Laughter is the best medicine!”. But, even if laughter has no boundaries, humour in translation does. Different types of humour As we all know, humour has many faces. Ideally, some instances of humour are unrestricted in that they can easily be translated into another language system without major difficulties. However, sometimes humour carries cultural, political and social references which can have an impact on the source audience but mean nothing in a different language. In addition, it can play with the meaning or sound of words, adding extra difficulty to the translation task as the translator may have to rack his or her brain to come up with a creative solution. In some cases, and to make matters worse during a translation, humour can be bound to a private or in-group joke, meaning that if you are an outsider to this group, you cannot understand what the joke implies. Or the translation of a humour instance cannot exceed a certain amount of characters and must forcibly be reformulated to fit the given space, as in the case of subtitles. So, bearing these situations in mind, how can a translator achieve the original intention of a humour instance? Different techniques for translating humour The challenges of translating humour are numerous. Translators must have a sound knowledge of the language and culture and, above all, a lot of...

The Caribbean Culture, its Different Traditions and Customs

Apr 26, 2019 | Blog

Diverse Caribbean culture This is the second and last part of our blog about the Caribbean. Since one blog post was not enough to deal with some important aspects of the Caribbean Civilisation, we thought it would be better to split it in two. Therefore, if you have not read the first part which deals with Caribbean geography, identity, economy, and languages, make sure you catch up by clicking here. Today, we will discuss Caribbean culture and its diversity. Process of Diversity Every cultural aspect in the archipelago is the result of transculturation or cross-influence. According to Stuart Hall, “[Caribbean people] became subject at once to complex processes of assimilation, translation, adaptation, resistance, reselection and so on. That is to say, they became in a deep sense diasporic societies. For wherever one finds diasporas, one always finds precisely those complicated processes of negotiation and transculturation which characterize Caribbean culture.” So what is transculturation? Transculturation is a synonym of ‘cross-influence’. Fernanda Ortiz created this concept in order to describe the phenomena that occurred in Cuba. This term refers to the transmutations of cultures. It describes the contact between two cultures that discover each other and clash. According to him, this term is the most appropriate term for expressing the different phases of the transition process from one culture to another. Indeed, it consists not only in the acquisition of a different culture, but also in the loss and the uprooting of a previous culture. Moreover, it expresses the creation of new cultural phenomena (neoculturation). To prove his point, he uses the metaphor of a child, being the genetic result of...

The Caribbean Culture : Geopolitical and economical history

Apr 24, 2019 | Blog

A General Introduction to the Caribbean Civilisation When you hear about ‘the Caribbean’, images may cross your mind, whether they are true or fabricated: paradise-like beaches with clear blue waters, sun, delicious food, relaxation, magnificent hotels… But these are just a small part of Caribbean life. The question of culture is interesting to tackle in the Caribbean context, but also difficult, as not one island is like another one. In a way, Caribbean identity is a gathering of different cultures; representing a mix of different values, habits and customs. Of course, there are some characteristics which are generally linked to the Caribbean. For example, it is not surprising to hear about ‘waiting’ or ‘island time’ culture in the Caribbean – the notion of time being different from other places in the world. But if you continue reading, you will see that there is no such thing as a ‘pure Caribbean identity/culture’. A little geography The Caribbean is situated in the Western hemisphere, in Central America and is divided into three main parts. Firstly, the Bahamas, which includes over 3000 islands and reefs on the North shore. Then, the Great Antilles, which make up almost 90% of the land of the West Indies and include Cuba and Jamaica. Cuba being the largest single island of the Caribbean. And finally, the Lesser Antilles, which are divided into the Windward and Leeward islands. The first group encompasses Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, The Grenadines, and Grenada. The second one Anguilla, St. Maarten, St. Barthélemy, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, and Dominica. The “ABC” islands and...

Happy Easter Everywhere!

Apr 18, 2019 | Blog

Easter is coming! Easter Sunday is a celebration for millions of people around the world who honor the resurrection of Jesus, described in the New Testament as having occurred three days after his crucifixion. For children, it is also the day the Easter bunny hides chocolate eggs for them to find in a much-celebrated Easter Egg Hunt. Easter corresponds with the first Sunday following the full moon after the March equinox, and occurs on different dates around the world since western and eastern churches do not use the same calendar. However the egg hunt is not the way every culture celebrates Easter. Here we detail some different Easter traditions around the world. Prizzi – Italy In Prizzi, Sicily, villagers do the “Abballu de daivuli”, dressing as devils wearing terrifying zinc masks and red robes and pestering as many “souls” as they can (which really means making them pay for drinks). In the afternoon, the Virgin Mary and the risen Christ save the day by sending the devils away with angels. Verges – Spain On Holy Thursday in Verges, Spain, the “dansa de la mort” or “death dance” is performed. Everyone dresses in skeleton costumes and parades through the streets. The procession ends with frightening skeletons carrying boxes of ashes. The macabre dance begins at midnight and continues for three hours into the early morning. Czech Republic In Czech Republic there is an Easter Monday tradition in which men spank women with handmade whips made of willow and decorated with ribbons. According to legend, the willow is the first tree to bloom in the spring, so the branches are supposed to transfer...

7 Reasons Why You Should Have a Multilingual Website

Apr 16, 2019 | Blog

Still wondering whether to go for a multilingual website? In previous blog posts, we talked about the advantages of having your website translated and the importance of website localization, as well as the multilingual trends in 2017. If these weren’t enough to convince you, here are seven reasons why we think you should definitely take the plunge and go global! 1. A big truth to start with… This is a cybernetic era! These days, you should be up-to-date with technology to be successful in practically any business area. You are only part of the world if your name is on the internet. However, that’s not enough. To be connected and boost your business, you need to have a multilingual website. Even though English is a global language, consumers prefer to read in their own language. You should be ready to embrace them all! 2. Spot your target Your website will open many doors for you but to be in the game you have to know how to play. You obviously know your product or service but it is most important to know to whom you are selling it! Every text and image on your website is an opportunity to touch the heart of a potential client. If you know what your clients want, you can use it to catch their attention and show them that you have what they need. How will they know this if they can’t even read your homepage? 3. Let’s go global – Open your business to the world So the first step in the game is to have your website translated into a wide...

Dubbing : What it means and its importance throughout countries

Apr 9, 2019 | Blog

Dubbing – Giving the Audience the Ultimate Sound Experience Dubbing is a post-production process in which sounds such as dialogue or other sound effects from a motion picture are perfected or added. The aim: to offer the audience an exceptional audiovisual illusion. Perfect dubbing allows the listener to perceive the sounds as natural, rather than recorded over through a post-production dubbing process. So, how does one achieve perfect dubbing? Let’s find out! Original-Language Dubbing Although for most people ‘dubbing’ means the foreign-language adaptation of a movie, there are two other types of dubbing that are commonly used but often go unnoticed: dialogue replacement and Foley. Dialogue replacement is necessary for many movies because the on-set audio recording is often unsuitable for the final version. There are many reasons why this might be. First of all, the set is often placed in unnatural environments or even a studio where the recording of voices does not sound the same way as it would in the actual environment where the scene is supposed to take place. Plus, undesirable noises can result from filming equipment, weather, traffic and other uncontrollable factors. Also, the microphones might not be placed close enough to the actors, e.g. in a long shot. So, in order for the audience to hear the dialogue clearly and to eliminate distracting noises as well as improve the sound quality in general, the actors come back to a studio to record their own voices again, in synchronization with the scene. Sometimes, this even allows for changing of lines. In some cases, this has also been done to improve or replace singing voices...

Breakfast around the World – French, Italian, and Spanish Breakfasts

Apr 4, 2019 | Blog

Breakfast is the most important meal around the world Around the world, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It should cover at least 20% of your daily food intake. As a matter of fact, this is essential in order to give you sufficient energy to start the day. But breakfast is not just about food and calories. In every part of the world, it is an occasion to spend time with your beloved ones and it is also a matter of culture and tradition. The bad habit of skipping breakfast Skipping breakfast is like trying to start your car without gas: it will never get going. The same happens for the human body when you skip meals and your system misses essential nutrients. In fact, skipping breakfast creates a sort of vicious circle. First of all, it causes an uncontrollable hunger mid-morning. This leads to an excessive intake of calories for what should be just a simple snack. Secondly, this huge snack can cause a lack of appetite at lunch time. Not being hungry will make you eat a small portion, low in calories and nutrients. Thirdly, all these unbalanced meals lead you to overeating for dinner and negatively impact your sleep. Consequently, this chain reaction generates a very unhealthy lifestyle. Different habits, different places, different food So, what should a person eat for breakfast? Meals, even breakfast, are strictly dependent on personal taste and culture, which explains why they are so different around the world. It is common to consider coffee, milk or tea and eggs, pastries and fruit as food suitable for breakfast. However,...

The Rules of Subtitling

Apr 2, 2019 | Blog

Subtitles – helpful or distracting? In the worlds of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, audiovisual aids are indispensable and so is subtitling. Even though the North American film industry is the third largest film industry worldwide, Canadians and other English-speaking populations would be missing out on some great movies and TV series if subtitles were not available. However, the quality and the use of multilingual subtitles are often subject to polarizing discussions. Statements such as: “Subtitles only serve to distract the viewer!” and “Subtitles don’t even reflect what the actor is actually saying!” are not unusual. On the other hand, multilingual subtitles open up a whole new world for people who speak different languages. But what requirements are to be considered when subtitling, and what makes ‘good’ subtitles? Let’s dive into how subtitles are created! Types of Subtitles First, what are subtitles exactly? A subtitle is text displayed on screen. It is usually positioned at the top or bottom of the screen and serves to make a movie more accessible and more understandable. The purpose of the subtitle can vary, i.e. depending on the audience it is for. Thus, there are different types of subtitles. One purpose for subtitles is to provide an understandable version for the deaf or hard of hearing. In that case, the subtitling process does not include a translation. It is mostly the rendering of a spoken dialogue into written form in the same language or the rendering of non-verbal sounds into text form, as in Closed Captioning or Descriptive Text. Another reason for subtitles is to make written text in a picture understandable to...