Christmas Spirit Celebration or Winter Solstice Celebration? These two phrases have been around the world for quite a bit now. But, Christmas Spirit, Winter Solstice, what do they mean? Is there a connection between them? Are they the same celebration? When are they celebrated? Winter Solstice Celebration, also called Yule Winter Solstice is a time of great symbolism and power. It marks the return of the sun, when the days finally begin to get a little longer. Moreover, it marks the beginning of winter which also coincides with the shortest day of the year. The celebration usually is between the 20th and the 22nd of December in the northern hemisphere, and around June 20th and 22nd in the Southern hemisphere. People has been celebrating this major Pagan festival with rituals since before medieval times. It is an originally Nordic tradition that made the burning of a Yule Log its main attraction. Nowadays, terms similar to Yule are used in the Nordic countries to refer to Christmas and its religious rites and holidays of the season. Christmas Spirit Celebration The Christmas Spirit Celebration also has a Nordic origin. It is usually celebrated around the same times as the Winter Solstice Celebration, but it is mainly celebrated in Hispanic countries. It is said that when winter solstice begins, the Christmas Spirit comes down to earth and visits all men of good will who welcome it to their homes with rituals. These rituals bring prosperity, peace, good energy, and love in the new year. If you are interested in Christmas traditions around the world, look here. Steps for a Christmas Spirit Celebration People...
Global Websites for International Audiences If you have a website, it surely is one of your priorities to make it to the top of search engine results. To achieve this, having an excellent SEO strategy is essential. How about expanding your website to international audiences? Do you have to adopt a similar strategy or does it have to be different? Have a look at this article to create global websites! The Importance of Search Engines SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a straightforward concept consisting in making sure a website comes up at the top of search engine results for terms and sentences relevant to the website’s content. In other words, SEO allows users to find the best websites on the web depending on the keywords used in the said search engine. If you have a good SEO strategy, you are most likely to have a successful website! But what if you wish to expand your website to foreign language markets? Your Target Search Engine in a Foreign Country First, you have to ask yourself, can your website be in the target country’s language? You also must not forget to consider the culture of that country, their consumers and most importantly what search engines they use. Yes, Google is not the only search engine. Let’s take China for instance. The main search engine in China is Baidu. In Japan, it is Yahoo. Another example, in Russia Google.ru is not the main search engine. It is Yandex, for the good reason that the latter is built around the Cyrillic Alphabet. So of course, if you have, let’s say, a Chinese website,...
What we’ve been up to! It has been a long time since we updated you on our on-going projects! At LingoStar, we like to work on a wide variety of topics and we learn from each of them. All our professional linguists are fully-qualified and come from different backgrounds. Therefore, we always have a team member able to meet your needs. In this new blog post, we shine the spotlight on the role of languages in the film industry. We also introduce you to some outstanding projects we recently completed. To what extent are language professionals involved? The film industry relies on a wide range of linguists. You might think of dubbing and subtitling, which are obvious fields of specialization for professional linguists in the audiovisual industry. But there are others you may not have thought about! For example, production companies hire localization professionals for movies made in other countries, or movies that have plots in which different cultures are involved. Indeed, even if the director might know the target culture, it is likely that the actors, screenwriters, costume designers, etc., will need training on the particular culture in the film to portray a true representation of that culture. Behind the scenes, language specialists can play a big role, too! As professional linguists, we contribute! Currently at LingoStar, we are working on an interesting project for a film series where we play both the role of a tutor and translator. The characters in the series often have to speak Latin, which is very interesting for us as Latin is often referred to as a dead language, but in this...
A decade of change in communications Can you picture yourself answering a simple “Ok.” when receiving a text? Ten years ago you certainly would have and it is likely that you didn’t even know what an Emoji looked like. With the exploding increase in use of smartphones, you won’t have missed that the language of Emoji has been added to the 7,000 languages spoken worldwide. The 7001st language During the last decade, we have seen that people don’t use their phone as a simple tool anymore. It has quickly become a second version of one’s self. Your smartphone is your reflection in the mirror. You can easily tell whether someone likes a little colour in their life or prefers minimalism by looking at their phone case. The apps they download reveal a lot about their lifestyle. The wallpaper hints about their personal life. But what is betraying us in our way of speaking? Guess! The language of Emoji allows us to transcribe our emotions and tone much more efficiently than using words. How and when did the language of Emoji appear? It all started with the emoji’s ancestors : the emoticons. Emoticons were the very first common digital language. Combining existing characters in chatrooms allowed to insert emotions in a message. For example, if something made you happy you would write “:-)”. The first actual Emoji is born in 1999, in Japan, by Shigetaka Kurita, by request of the mobile carrier company DoCoMo. Their aim was to offer their customers a catchy and effective new way to communicate. For example, one could send an icon of a raining cloud...
Academic year resolutions for your children The backpack is ready, the sandwich is in the lunchbox, fall breeze starts to blow… it’s that time of year again: back to school! What resolutions have you made this year for your children? At LingoStar, we think that speaking foreign languages from a young age is an asset in every aspect of life. What is your opinion on the matter? Why is childhood the best time to learn a foreign language? Many studies prove that the best time to introduce someone to a foreign language is before the age of twelve. The language function is in development and soaks up vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation much easier than it will ever do in the future. Now, you might be wondering if it is not confusing for children to be exposed to foreign languages while they are still learning their native language. Scholars have demonstrated that bilingual children have the capacity to differentiate between two languages before even having the ability to talk. Therefore, they won’t mix them up when it is their time to talk, as changes are naturally made in their brain to assign certain words and sounds to the language they belong to. They also claim that it is totally fine to teach children two languages until the age of five. After this age, three new languages can be introduced. Is the study of a new language profitable to my children’s personal growth? Teaching different languages to your children is a very good way of providing education. It will improve their creativity, develop curiosity and give them more general knowledge. The...
Is machine translation about to replace human translation? Translation companies have always tried to provide the best quality translations possible. So far, using human translation seems to be the best option. However, some companies have recently announced new translation systems that would bring considerable improvements to the industry. Their promise is to provide high quality and natural sounding translations through convenient devices. Recent breakthroughs in the real-time translation field After adding instant image translation to its “Google Translate” service in 2012, Google launched its first headphones in November 2017. They enable users to have direct access to Google Assistant. They can listen to music; ask for traffic information; write emails and have a conversation in another language thanks to Google Translate. Google’s earphones – the Pixel Buds – are a real-time translating device that can translate 40 languages. Although its product gathered impressive press coverage, Google wasn’t the first company to develop this kind of technology. In 2016, Waverly Labs, an American company, produced the first earpiece language translator. Since then, real-time translation has been a trend that no company wants to miss. Several companies worldwide have been developing their own devices such as LeTrans, Travis The Translator, Ili Wearable Translator and Bragi Dash Pro. How do these new technologies compare to human translations? These technologies are very easy to use. For most of them, all you need are earpieces and a smartphone. With the translating earphones, two people who speak different languages can both hear the words in their own language instantly during a conversation, and straight in their ears. These technologies aim at making international communication easier....
Methods to become a certified translator in Canada Whether you want to be a certified translator or you’re just interested in learning more about this profession, here are some interesting facts that you may want to know. The translation industry in Canada in 3 numbers: Per capita, Canada has the highest number of university programs in translation The average translator salary in Canada is around $54 000 A Bachelor’s degree is often required (language major preferred) What is a certified translator? Certified translators are language professionals whose translations are considered valid and accepted as official documents by all governing authorities in Canada, regardless of the province or territory where they obtained their certifications. Certified translators are often specialised in one or two fields. They comply with provincial and/or territorial translation associations’ standards. These associations grant this title according to several criteria. How do they get their certifications? All certified translators, interpreters and terminologists have their title granted by provincial or territorial regulatory bodies. Each has its own evaluation methods and works independently. However, there is a national regulatory council responsible for the application of uniform standards for the professional certification to ensure translation quality and protect the public. The Canadian Translators, Terminologists and Interpreters Council (CTTIC) represents all certified translators, interpreters and terminologists in Canada. Most provincial or territorial regulatory associations in Canada are members of this council. In order to be eligible for certification, all translators have to be accepted as members of their respective provincial or territorial associations. Each provincial or territorial association uses different processes to select its members. These processes are well described on their...
How to Watch TV Shows and Movies to Learn New Languages Everybody learns grammar when studying a foreign language in school. However, is this really the best way to become bilingual? As a French-speaking person, I learned English grammar, but I can only write and speak with ease because I try a original solution to learn new languages with a few fun tricks. Why learn English? I began to learn English in elementary school at the age of 10 and continued on to my high school graduation. However, I always learned the same thing every year. At first, I found learning English pretty boring and difficult, but my growing love for music and especially for English-speaking artists led me to try to understand what was said in the songs I was enjoying. This was how my crusade for a better understanding of English began. The Attempts My first attempt was to read books in English. But when you do not have a high level of English, a foreign sci-fi book must come with at least one dictionary to understand every hard word you come across. You need to take breaks in your reading to search for the right meaning of these words. There is no doubt that this can kill the momentum and with it, your interest in the story you are reading. My second attempt was to change the language of my devices. I decided to change the language of my phone and my game station but the result wasn’t great, since I wasn’t really reading anything new. Since I had been using these devices all the time...
Chinese market: What’s new? The Chinese and Marketing channels Chinese consumers are changing. They open more and more to the Western marketing channels and practices. However the rise of the local communication platform WeChat and its growing number of users threatens the email marketing strategies. According to Chinese authorities, half of the population now has access to the internet, although this access can be unstable due to government crackdowns – such as the one initiated in February 2018. The overwhelming majority of Chinese internet users – around 95% – connect via their smartphones. A responsive design for your website is thus crucial, especially for e-commerce websites, which must provide users with the best user experience possible. As for payments, local payment gateways – such as Alipay or WeChat – are increasingly popular and used on a daily basis. Using these payment solutions could help you earn your customers’ trust and develop your business more rapidly. Communicate with customers Earning trust from your customers also means addressing them in their language. As mentioned previously, Chinese consumers tend to trust local brands and companies more and more. Therefore, adapting your business techniques to the local culture and language can help you significantly. Mandarin is a very subtle language and if you decide to translate your brand or tagline, you need to have native speakers do the job. In the 1980s, KFC – the American fast food restaurant – learned this the hard way when their first restaurant opened in China. Their famous “finger lickin” good” tagline became “Eat your fingers off” after a mistranslation, which didn’t sound very appetising. Knowing your...
Business Communication: What Should I Know? The way we communicate in the workplace can vary significantly from one country to another. Although there are some international rules, you may need to understand your partners’ cultures to improve business communication and build a long-lasting business abroad. Although cultural differences in terms of body language tend to fade, there are still some particularities to take into consideration. Eye contact Making eye contact is a proof of attention in Western and Latin American countries but is also a sign of dominance – or worse, aggression – in Japan. It can therefore create embarrassing situations. Make sure your eye contact is very brief. Handshakes It is now common around the world to handshake your co-workers in a business context, apart from a few exceptions such as Thailand, or in some Muslim countries between men and women. In countries where physical contact is considered rude, such as Japan, handshakes should be brief and limp. Also, you will exchange business cards, and should have yours translated into Japanese. It’s a very common practice to give one’s business card when meeting someone in a professional context. Personal space In Latin American countries, even in a professional context, casual touching and physical proximity during a conversation are commonplace. Whereas people can consider it inappropriate in the UK or in Germany, it creates a climate of trust in Latin American countries. Emotional display It is not always professional to show how you feel to your co-workers. In some countries though, you can share your personal opinions or state of mind more freely than others. In China for example,...
