How new words get entered into the dictionary?

May 16, 2014 | Promotions

New words are constantly created and used in the daily life. But they are not all in the dictionary, but how does it get entered in? Every dictionary is updated each year by the editor and the research offices. A lexicographer is a real language observatory which spots, captures and selects the new words, the new expressions and also the new sense of variations that have appeared for some words. Here is the list of all the people who contribute to updates of the dictionary. Lexicographer A lexicographer is a ‘A writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge’ (Samuel Johnson, Dictionary of the English Language, 1755). He analyzes corpus and context, does research in other dictionaries, and is specialized to know all the different meanings of a word. Documentation Documentation concerns all the work done to track all the new words or the new uses of the same words. When we read, listen to radio, watch TV, or even when we are talking to someone, we observe new words uses or neologisms (the coining or use of new words). The person in charge of documentation will track down new expressions, phrases and new word classes (for instance when a noun is employed as an adjective). The lexicographer can use any support, ranging anywhere from the Internet to a shopping catalog, which is a helpful source of daily terms. Once the choice of the new words is done, they can be submitted to the editorial office. The new words New words are appearing each day. Most of the time, they are relevant to IT technology. As they are in English, all...

Difference of work environment. Certified Immigration documents

May 12, 2014 | Blog

Certified immigration documents for immigration purpose. It is no doubt that work is one of the necessities in daily life. People usually consume around one third of the time in a day at work. Usually form morning to afternoon, people devote considerable effort to the company. Therefore, the environment of the workplace is very important because it influences their quality of life. Work environment differs depending on companies or cultures. For several reasons, you may  have to work abroad and discover a new culture, a new way to work or live. As an immigrant you will need your certified immigration documents translated by certified translator. Here at LingoStar, we provide these services. Here are some examples of differences of work environment between several countries. Europe In Accordance with French labor law, to work 35 hours a week is decided as a standard. But people often make a contract to work 39 hours a week including 4 hours over time work, so people usually work 7 to 8 hours a day on each weekday. Regarding long vacations, French law decided that people can take a 5 week continuous holiday. Other countries in Europe have a similar rule, hence why European countries can be good locations to work at. If you want to work in Europe, you will need your certified immigration documents translated from English to French, Spanish for example. North America In the U.S., for the most part, people work 8 hours a day, but some people work more than 10 hours, or even exceed 12 hours a day. They are motivated to work hard to reach their goals because...

BLOG ABOUT CHINESE BUSINESS – Chinese language

May 5, 2014 | Blog

Chinese language all over the world. Chinese business is growing day by day in North America. With the huge influx of Chinese immigrants into North America, translating your English source documents into the Chinese language, will help your business grow and make a favorable impression on the Chinese market. In China, there are 2 Chinese languages which are Mandarin and Cantonese. Mandarin is mostly spoken in Northern and southwestern China, whereas Cantonese is mostly spoken in mainland China. If you are planning to expand your business in China, it is very important for your organization to communicate with Chinese people in the Chinese language. Chinese language at LingoStar. We at Lingo-Star Language Services can help you with your document translations in all Chinese languages. All of our translators are native Chinese speakers and have over 5 year’s translation experience. Don’t hesitate to contact us We take quality very seriously and promise our clients that we will deliver only great quality translations for their documents from or into Chinese language. We can also help your organization with typesetting and localization services. We have worked for over 2000 clients and have helped them to expand their business operations globally across the world. Please contact us today and get a free quote for your document translation into Chinese...

Variety of proverbs depending on cultures

May 1, 2014 | Blog

Even though there are differences between cultures or backgrounds, some proverbs have similarities because different cultures may have similar ways of thinking. Especially when there is a relationship of ethnicity, more similarities are found in proverbs. For example, the English proverb “Anyone can make a mistake” changes depending on the culture expressing it. See below for an example of this: English: Anyone can make a mistake French: l’erreur est humaine (The mistake is human) Latin: errare humaum est (The mistake is human) Chinese: 智者千虑, 必有一失  (Even the wise are not always free from error) Japanese: 猿も木から落ちる(Even monkeys fall from trees) Differences: Sometimes proverbs have completely opposite meanings depending on countries or the area. For example, there is an English proverb ‘The Squeaky wheel gets the oil’. The idea of this proverb is that people who keep drawing attention to themselves are more likely to get attention. But on the other hand, there is a Japanese proverb ‘The nail that sticks out gets hammered down’ because in Japanese society, people who stand out are often hated, or disturbed.  Because humility or modesty is a virtue in Japan, their very similar proverb has a completely different meaning in comparison to the English version. As there are countless languages in the world, proverbs are everywhere in the world. Most of them are straightforward and often show characteristics of nationality, so they can be utilized as a source of good educational material to learn about different cultures. Here at LingoStar, even though there are vast differences between cultures, we can offer a high quality of services in various language services. Call us today...

Punjabi translation in the 21st century

Apr 29, 2014 | Blog

Finding a professional translation company that you can trust entirely is not an easy thing. Trust is everything, don’t dive in and choose a translation company that you are not 100% sure about. It is your document, and ultimately your reputation on the line. Quality is everything and at Lingo-Star we can guarantee you that you will receive high quality Punjabi translation services. There are about 600,000 Punjabi speakers in Canada, which is about 2% of the Canadian population. Punjabi is mostly written in the Gurmukhi script from left to right. Our Punjabi translators work in sectors including business, medical, oil and gas, legal, financial, technical, engineering and many more. Lingo-Star Promise: – Our Punjabi translations are quick, efficient and reliable – We only use professional and experienced Punjabi translators with at least 5 years’ of experience – We will offer competitive translation rates – All of our Punjabi translators are native Punjabi speakers and provide high quality translation work Lingo-Star offers document translation, website translation, email translation, certified translation, business translation, manual and catalog translation, online translation, patent translation and software translation in...

Difference of English Education

Apr 25, 2014 | Blog

It is no doubt that English is one of the most used languages in the world. It is spoken as an official language in more than 50 countries, and widely learned as a second language because of its usefulness. But the education of English differs depending on the country because of an assortment of reasons. Here are some examples:  China The Chinese government initiated English education in elementary schools in 2001 aimed at getting their students to gain practical use of English. Even though there is a slight gap in the education between urban areas and rural areas, some schools hire native speakers to enhance their students’ ability to speak English. Germany Each province in Germany has most of the authority regarding English education, so each province has different styles in the way they offer English education. Approximately half of the provinces offer only English education. On the other hand, some provinces offer Italian, Russian, or French education. Education places an emphasis on listening and speaking more than writing and reading skills to enhance cross-cultural communication. Netherlands English education in elementary schools in the Netherlands started from early 1970. English class is offered 4 times a week, and it is a popular subject for students. Students don’t learn English grammar in a school. They just listen to English, and an emphasis is placed on speaking. Lots of teachers in the Netherlands are fluent speakers of English, so they mostly don’t hire native speakers of English. France Education of foreign languages started in the 1960s in France.  Now education of English starts from elementary school (from 6 years old). After...

The variety of translation

Apr 15, 2014 | Blog

Do you want to be a translator? If you are interested in language, you might have thought about it. Being a translator is an ideal job for those who have a love for language. But of course, a high level of expertise is needed to do this job, so intensive training is needed to work as a professional translator. There are a lot of fields stemming from a job as a translator, and the requirements of translation are different depending on what kind of translation is needed. Here are some examples of different translation fields:  Business Translation Contract, financial statement, manual, catalogue, pamphlet, advertisement, business letter etc. Accuracy is the most important requirement in this field. As well as fundamental knowledge of the business field. Translators should also know details pertaining to specific differing fields such as finance, marketing and their corresponding terminologies necessary to improve a quality of translation. Mistranslation in this field may cause serious issues and negative ramifications for a company. That is why accuracy is essential in this field. Literary translation Plays, novels, short stories, poems etc. As well as simple translation, translators of literary translation should include feelings, nuances, humor etc. in a text. Also, wide ranges of knowledge are required in regards to slang, jokes, fad words, history, custom, culture etc. That is why it is considered as one of the most difficult forms of translation. Compared to another field of translation such as business translation, only a small number of people can work as a literary translator because of its difficulty. Visual media Translation Subtitle, dubbing, voiceover etc. This type of translation...

Communication with Animals

Apr 10, 2014 | Blog

Do you like your pet? If you have experience with pets, you most likely know how difficult it can be to communicate with animals. They can understand easy orders, but intensive training may be needed if you would like to make them understand complicated orders. And we can assume they experience feelings such as happiness, sadness, anger, or hunger based on their attitudes or actions, but usually they don’t have a method of communication with humans. Do you think it would be fun if they could communicate with humans more? Do you know the smart Gorilla named Koko? She can communicate with humans by using sign language. Her IQ is assumed to be between 80 and 90. (Average IQ of human is around 100). She has learned more than 2000 signs, and she expresses her emotion by using those. Furthermore, she can tell a lie, a joke and express her desire to humans. Of course, Koko’s case is an exception. Most of animals are not smart enough to communicate with humans, but this situation may change in the near future via the introduction of new technology. A professor in the U.S. is trying to make a translation device to translate a dog’s voice into English. He said that he would also like to apply his technique to translate the voices of other animals into English. If the translation device is functional and goes on sale to the public, the relationship between humans and pets would change significantly. There are countless languages people speak around the world, but all languages can be translated into other languages by hardworking translators. Therefore,...

Emails and Letters

Apr 3, 2014 | Blog

How many emails have you gotten today? Are there 100, 200, or more emails in your inbox? Both in private homes and businesses, email has become essential in our daily life, and we always check our inboxes in our cell phones, computers, or social media websites. It is a fact that around 150 billion emails are sent worldwide per day (65% of them are actually spam). Numbers of them have been increasing year by year because computers, the internet, and cell phones have become common in our daily lives. As media changes, methods of communication also change significantly. The first email was sent in 1971 by U.S. programmer Raymond Tomlinson. This means that email has 43 years of history. Then after several decades, email has become an important communication tool among people around the world due to convenience, quickness, and cost effectiveness. But as you see, newspapers, books, and magazines still exist in today’s world, and written media is also still an important tool. Many people still send handwritten letters especially on special occasions. What is the difference between an email and a letter? The perception of them could be an answer. People write Christmas cards, New Year cards etc. instead of emails because it is more sentimental and special to compose a warm-hearted thoughtful letter than send a computer generated message. Even though it costs more and takes much more time, the letter is not considered an outdated form of communication. If all emails were physically mailed, our office would be packed and could not handle the quantity. And if written letters were prohibited, it would be hard...

LANGUAGE MATTERS IN MARCH 2014: SPRING AROUND THE WORLD

Apr 2, 2014 | Blog

We hope everyone who is reading this article is enjoying a nice spring season.  We are going to talk about spring in March’s newsletter. The temperature goes up, snow and ice starts melting down, and buds of plants start to grow. Animals become active, insects come out of the ground, and flowers bloom. Everything starts moving and growing in this season and the atmosphere changes significantly. Even though weather in Vancouver is still chilly, warm and comfortable weather will be coming soon. With a nice atmosphere and lots of events, people have fun during this season. But the impression of this season may differ depending on the country because of many reasons. Not all countries have four seasons. It can be divided by wet season and dry season, or some countries have a different concept of seasons altogether. Or some cultural differences may influence the impression of the seasons. How’s this season treating you? We are going to introduce the differences between countries.  * Canada Spring comes slowly in most of the places in Canada. We can occasionally enjoy favorable weather in March in Canada, but especially in the West Coast area such as Vancouver or Victoria, people can enjoy nice spring weather compared to other areas in Canada. The Tulip festival in Ottawa takes place in May, hence spring comes later there. In other countries the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and Easter holiday occur in this season. In late May, there is Victoria Day to celebrate the honor of Queen Victoria’s birthday. Then people in Canada welcome Summer time. * Europe As you see a prefix ”pri-” in...