Feb 19, 2019 | Blog, Translation
The Use of German Terms of Endearment It doesn’t matter if they are partners, friends, children or pets: If you want to show verbal affection, you can use terms of endearment. And German is no exception. So, what are German terms of endearment? Are they very different from English? Most Common German Terms of Endearment The most used German terms of endearment seem to be the most boring ones, like Schatz ‘treasure’ with its variations Schatzi or Schätzchen. That one is so common that people make fun of it. Furthermore, some German people don’t use terms of endearment at all, which probably fits in with the German stereotype. Why invent a name if you already have one? Other common German terms of endearment are Maus/Mäuschen ‘mouse’, Hase/Häschen ‘rabbit’, Süße/-r ‘sweetie’, Liebste/-r ‘the most loved one’, Engelchen ‘little angel, and Bär/Bärchen ‘bear’. So, maybe German people do like their endearing names! Especially animal names, although this might not be only a German trait, since, for instance, Polish also uses animal names for their terms of endearment. As you can tell, you can call your loved one pretty much any animal name. Besides, you can make the name even cuter by adding the suffix –chen. This way you don’t call your loved one ‘bear’ but ‘little bear’, which shows even more affection. The suffix –i /y works in the same way: Hasi, Mausi, Bärli, and with first names Isy, Benni, Matthi. Less Used, But More Creative German Terms of Endearment There are German terms of endearment that are a little bit more creative, such as Schnucki, Schnuffi, Knuddel, Knuffi, Schmusi. They...
Feb 12, 2019 | Blog, Translation
Wrap Your Head around German and English Idioms Do you think idioms are a pain in the neck? Or do you have a soft spot for them? Well, let’s face it, if you learn a new language they will be part of your learning experience, come rain or come shine. Native speakers, however, use them most of the time without even realising it. So no need to beat around the bush, let’s get down to business and take a closer look at German and English idioms! How Idioms Developed Idioms are fixed phrases or expressions with a figurative meaning. Most of the time, the literal meaning does not express the figurative one at all, as in to kick the bucket. And it would sound weird to say, for instance, to kick the pail. Therefore, the words are set in stone. Sometimes, however, it is funny to play with idioms and deliberately change them according to the context you are in. Nevertheless, many idioms used to be literal, but became disconnected from their original meanings. Consequently, they only exist in their figurative meaning nowadays. For some idioms you can trace this development, for example, to let the cat out of the bag. Others, in contrast, are very ambiguous and it is not clear what their origin is, for instance, to pull one’s leg. Read further for the origins of these idioms. Some idioms have a transparent meaning. In other words, even as a non-native speaker you can figure it out, because they are logical, like the early bird catches the worm. Maybe it is a concept that you also have...
Feb 7, 2019 | Blog, Translation
Charming German Compound Words In case you haven’t heard, the German language is full of huge words! The most popular example used by Germans (who also make fun of these long, weird words) is Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän. It translates into ‘Danube steamship company captain’. But they don’t always have to be that long and complicated. You will never hear the above word in a daily conversation, for example. However, there are smoother and easier ways to use German compound words. How To Built German Compound Words Firstly, German compound words are made of two or more words you would like to combine and can be any word type from nouns to prepositions. The combination of words or ‘parts’ can also result in any kind of word type: nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. The last part of the compound word determines which type of word it will be. This is how Germans know that they are referring to grandparents (Großeltern ‘grand- or big parents’) and not to something that is as big as parents. One little tip for German language learners that struggle with articles: the gender of German compound words is also determined by the last part of the word. If you know that Kind ‘child’ is grammatically neutral, you know that words like Kleinkind, Spielkind, Enkelkind are neutral, too, even if you don’t know what they mean. How They Convey Meaning Another good thing to know about German compound words is how the different parts influence each other. On the one hand, the first part describes the second part in more detail and specifies it. That is why Zeitungsindustrie means ‘newspaper...
Feb 5, 2019 | Blog, Language Varieties
Chinese, Macanese and… Portuguese? Hundreds and hundreds of languages in China Chinese is the most common term to indicate a range of different languages, among them Macanese. Based on the number of native speakers throughout the world, Chinese is the most spoken language all over the world. It is official in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. However, Chinese-speaking communities can be found basically everywhere. There are Chinatowns across the globe. The most famous are in NY, London and Toronto. Among all the different varieties of Chinese, two standards (spoken and written) exist: Cantonese and Mandarin, and Traditional and Simplified. Our previous blogpost is about some clarification on their differences. Nevertheless, China is a huge land of giant metropolitan cities like Beijing or Shanghai and home to about six thousand small villages. Its people speak more than 200 different languages generally described as dialects of Chinese such as Pekinese, Shanghainese, Xiang, Taishanese, etc. Just Chinese? Not in Macau Meanwhile, there are not only speakers of Chinese and its various dialects in China. Macau is an autonomous territory of 30.5 km2 with a population of 650,900. That is why it is one of the most densely populated regions in the world. Macau was a Colony of the Portuguese Empire from 1557 until 1999. Finally, Portugal transferred the sovereignty to the People’s Republic of China. People consider it the last European Colony in Asia. Although 20 years have passed since then and despite the distance from the mainland, the Portuguese influence is still prominent in Macau, both artistically and linguistically. You can walk on streets ornamented with calçada portuguesa surrounded by red lanterns...
Jan 31, 2019 | Blog, Language Varieties
Silbo Gomero is Spain’s Exotic Whistling Language Languages can use so many different forms of sounds. You probably have heard about languages that use clicks like Xhosa in South Africa. It sounds more or less exotic because only rare languages use them. Even more rare if you think about whistling. But that is exactly what Silbo Gomero, a languages in the Spanish territory, does. Languages of Spain Spain is a European country that is home to many different languages. These languages possess a co-official status with Castilian, the standardised language variety in Spain. In Barcelona, the Balearic Islands, and Valencia, Catalan is the co-official language along with Spanish. The same place takes Euskadi in the Basque Country. In the Iberian Peninsula there are many varieties, dialects and even distinct languages:. These are Aragonese, Galician, Valencian (the variety of Catalan spoken in Valencia), Andalusian dialect, Portuguese. Even English is spoken in Gibraltar. But there is another one far from the mainland, plunged in the Atlantic Ocean and close to Africa. On a small island belonging to the Archipelago of Canary Islands, a language exists that is not a spoken one: Silbo Gomero. The History of Silbo Gomero Silbo Gomero or simply, “el Silbo” (the whistle), takes its name from the Island of La Gomera. The primitive inhabitants of the Canary Islands, the Guanches, settlers from North Africa, developed it since needed a way to communicate across long distances, especially among shepherds. In fact, Silbo Gomero is perceptible up to 5 km away. Nowadays, people still use it to communicate because there are places on the Islands that are not covered...
Jan 28, 2019 | Blog, Translation, Translation News
What Exactly is DeepL? The DeepL Translator has taken off like a rocket and is going strong. It is the new miracle in AI (artificial intelligence) translation because it translates as fast as other translation machines like Google Translate and Microsoft Bing Translator. However, its translations sound more natural. So, what is DeepL? DeepL is a German company founded by the developers of Linguee. DeepL’s focus is to develop more AI products for the language industry. The company released its DeepL Translator in late August 2017 featuring English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, and Dutch language translation. Russian and Portuguese were added in December 2018 due to user demand. They continue to add more languages and next they will release Chinese and Japanese. How Does the DeepL Translator Work? Since DeepL uses linguee.com as a resource, it already has a huge collection of curated translation data at its disposal. It uses neural machine translation. This is one of the many approaches for machine translation, predicting the sequence of words in a sentence. DeepL, however, does not want to talk about the specific model they use. Other companies have made theirs open source. Nevertheless, Jaroslaw Kutylowski, DeepL Chief Technology Officer, says that they keep on top of the current science of machine translation and combine their findings with their own ideas and experiences having developed DeepL. The “Men vs. Machine” Debate The release of this unexpectedly accurate machine translator by DeepL has enflamed the debate about human and machine translation once again. While some translators fear for their jobs, others stay calm. They are rather interested in what is technologically...
Jan 25, 2019 | Translation
It Means What?? Weird translations of restaurant menus Have you ever skimmed through a multilingual restaurant menu that was translated into you native tongue? Quite a few thinks can happen: it makes you laugh, it makes you shake your head in disbelieve or it leaves you utterly puzzled. Everyone needs to eat. Also or maybe above all in countries in which you do not understand the native languages. That is why translations of restaurant menus are so important. Google is not your best friend in many cases either. It once wanted to make me believe, that one Turkish dish means “infertile”. Why It Is so Important So, depending on the country and language, food around the globe will have different names and translations. The translation of restaurant menus can be one of the most important marketing strategies for a restaurant. If the exotic names of dishes are not translated, customers will not dare to try them, and thus, they will stick with the same old traditional food. There is no room for innovation at a restaurant where customers always order the same dishes. On the other hand, some restaurants translate their menus using automatic translation tools. As a result, you will find hilariously inaccurate translations. These translation engines often provide literal translations that make customers laugh and, above all, make restaurants look foolish. For example, take bonito a la plancha, a Spanish grilled tuna dish, translated as “beauty to the iron”. Not quite capturing the meaning there! Funny Examples of Translations of Restaurant Menus We thought it might be funny (and educational) to find some more examples to illustrate...
Jan 23, 2019 | Blog, Language Varieties
Ever heard of Patagonian Welsh? Down in the South of Argentina, in the Chubut province of Patagonia, you will not only hear Spanish or other native languages associated with Southern Argentina. You will also hear Patagonian Welsh. There are about 5,000 speakers. But, how did it end up there? How Welsh Came to Argentina During the industrial revolution, some Welsh people were afraid of losing their cultural heritage. Therefore, and among other reasons, they decided to immigrate to the US. But there they would be assimilated to a new language and lifestyle. So, they went looking for a better place to conserve their language, culture and tradition. They considered Vancouver Island. But they finally decided on Patagonia as it seemed to have everything required. After a two-month journey by ship, about 200 people arrived on the Argentinean coast in July 1865. They struggled greatly at first because of the very different environment and conditions they had to face. Luckily, after some initial mistrust, they received help from and started trading with the native Teheulche Indians. Finally, they established their first permanent settlement called Rawson at the end of 1965. Ten years later, after discussions about the ownership of the land with the Argentinean government, they received ownership of the populated land. The Welsh made the land fertile. It looked as if their dream had come true with schools, chapels and a local government in Patagonian Welsh. However, more and more people were attracted to the prosperity, Welsh as well as non-Welsh. By 1915 about half of the population was non-Welsh. Simultaneously, the Argentinean government made Spanish the mandatory language...
Jan 15, 2019 | Blog, Translation News
The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences will land soon in Vancouver The University of British Columbia will host this year the 88th annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. The Congress takes place from June 1st to June 7th. It is one of the most important academic events related to the above-mentioned fields. Also, the Congress “brings together academics, researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners”. Their aim? “To share findings, refine ideas, and build partnerships that will help shape the Canada of tomorrow”. The World-famous Congress of the Humanities and Social Science will be hosted at the UBC This Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is organized by the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Moreover, it usually attracts more than 8,000 attendees among scholars, students, researchers, academic associations and partners. So, for a full week, they offer public lectures, workshops and public events. Last but not least, they share their research findings. As a result, “Luminaries, researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and students from across Canada and abroad meet”. They also “share ideas and engage in discussions that have direct importance for Canada and the lives of Canadians.” The Congress’s Main Theme Even more, this year’s Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences will revolve around the following theme: “Circles of Conversation”. Also, it “will open up much-needed space for dialogue, debate, and dissent”. Plus, it will “showcase creative critical engagements within and across disciplines”. For example, topics will be as diverse as sustainability, accessibility, global mobility, health, culture, education, etc.”. Eventually, it will emphasize the importance of engaging on art to be investigated creatively in relation...
