The problems women of colour face in France… France is a country rich in cultural diversity, partly shaped by its immigration. In this article, we shine the spotlight on women of colour in France, the problems they face and their struggle. It will allow you to understand why, increasingly, women of colour are leading the fight against racism in France. Women of colour in France, and around the globe, are victims of both sexism and racism. In society, on social media, at work… Being different is stigmatized when it should be seen as something positive… A study published by France Stratégie (an institution planning the social, economic, environmental and cultural development of France) has shown that, in France, men have more working opportunities than women. And among all these men, Caucasian men have more opportunities than the others. So what about women of colour? Mentalities might be evolving but, unfortunately, racial and gender discrimination in the world of work is still deeply rooted. An example of discrimination against women of colour at work The French website Abenafrica contains numerous stories testifying to this sad reality. A 23-year-old woman from Martinique – a French overseas territory – explained that she had a team meeting at work. She entered the room and was about to close the door. Her boss said “Oh no, please, don’t close the door! It’s really hot today, just like in your country!” Her name is Émilie. She was born in Paris. France IS her home country. This is just one of the many examples witnessing the discrimination women and people of colour face every day. And...
At LingoStar, we aim to broaden our comprehension of the world by using our knowledge of languages and cultures. We believe that translation is the key to understanding each other better and thus, to bring people from all around the world closer together. This is why we offer a wide range of services in a multitude of languages. We could go on and on about what kind of services we provide and why we are the right company for your translation needs, but we’ll let our Lingostar Language Services Projects speak for themselves. Minority and extinct languages we have worked with Inuktitut Translation Did you know that Inuktitut is one of the minority languages in Canada? It is one of the main Inuit languages and is spoken by 39,475 natives. “In Canada, the word Inuktitut is routinely used to refer to all Canadian variants of the Inuit traditional language, and it is under that name that it is recognised as one of the official languages of Nunavut and the Northwest.” “Inuktitut comes from inuk “person” and -titut “like” or “in the manner of”. Many Inuit live in the northern regions of Canada, for the most part, along the Arctic coast. Inuit Nunangat in Inuktitut means “lands, waters, and ices of the [Inuit] people”. Inuit Nunangat is composed of the Northwest Territories and Yukon (Inuvialuit), Nunavut, Northern Quebec (Nunavik), and the northeastern coast of Newfoundland and Labrador (Nunatsiavut). Latin Translation In regards to other rarely used languages, we also translate into Latin. Even though Latin is an extinct language, the film industry manages to bring it back to life for our greatest entertainment! Why would...
Who celebrates the Lunar New Year? China and other Asian countries celebrate the Lunar New Year, also referred to as Chinese Chunjie, Korean Solnal, Vietnamese Tet, Tibetan Losar, or more commonly as the Spring Festival. In 2021, we welcome the Lunar New Year of the Ox! The origins of the Lunar New Year festival take place thousands of years ago with the legend of the Nian. Nian was a terrible monster that devoured human flesh on New Year’s Day. The stories explain that the beast was afraid of loud noises, fire and of the colour red. Consequently, during the celebration, fireworks are lit, red lanterns are hung and a lion made out of several people in costumes walks the streets. When does it take place? The festivities begin with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and end 15 days later, on the first full moon. The dates of the holiday vary from one year to the other as they follow the cycles of the moon. The holiday usually takes place between the 21st January and the 20th February of the Gregorian Calendar. In addition, a few days before the New Year, the sweeping of the ground starts: people fully clean their houses in the hope of getting rid of all the lingering bad vibes. It is customary for people celebrating Chinese New Year to give each other small red envelopes containing money. Furthermore, the Lantern Festival takes place on the last day of the Lunar New Year’s celebrations. If you are lucky enough to be in a place that celebrates it, you will find yourself amazed and...
In our previous blog post Canadian English: A Brief History, we set out to explain how Canadian English was formed throughout its colonization. Today, we look at some of the variations in written Canadian, American and British English. Canadian English may have been shaped by its history, but it is also clear that it has its own identity. We’ve had lively debates about the following points among our team members in our office and with our contributors further afield! 🙂 We’re always striving to build on our specialist knowledge of any language-related aspect so we thought we’d share a few of them with you! 1. Spelling variations English has one single spelling system, with two minor subsystems: British and American. In Canada, the British subsystem prevails for the most part. In the historical context of the British colonization of Canada, this becomes easier to understand. However, Canada is equally under the influence of the United States, not least because of the proximity between the two nations. We can therefore find variations from both subsystems in Canadian English, to the extent that there is no defined Canadian standard. Canadian English therefore oscillates between the two subsystems. You can read more about why Canadian spelling is different here. Examples of spelling variations • Nouns and verbs ending in “–ise /–ize”: Canadian English (CaE) favours the American English (AmE) spelling system with “z”, e.g. localization, customize, personalize, finalize civilize, criticize, italicize, itemize, memorize, organize. Exceptions: advertise, advise, arise, comprise, enterprise, exercise, merchandise, revise, supervise, surprise. • Nouns ending in “–our /–or”: AmE favours the “–or” ending, but British English (BrE) and CaE...
A Word on Localization Over the past year, we’ve spoken a lot about the importance of localization. The 14 guides we published in fall 2020 highlight why localizing your website content matters. They explain what to look out for in order to localize your website easily to establish trust and successfully engage with your target audience. Moreover, in one of our social media posts in December 2020, we touched on the differences between Canadian, American and British English. Translations into Canadian English and Canadian French make up the core of our business. As part of our commitment to continuous professional development, we decided to delve deeper into how Canadian English was formed to gain a better understanding of its history. Our findings were so enriching that we had to share them with you! Canadian English: A Rich Heritage The creation of Canada as we know it today is the product of several phases of colonisation. Indigenous people had already been living on the land for thousands of years. In the 10th century, Scandinavian expeditions tried in vain to establish sustainable settlements. It’s not until the 15th and 16th centuries that the French and the English revived colonisation interest. Over the next 350 years, each respective side discovered and won over different parts of Canada through several wars. We’ve produced this handy infographic summarising the key events over this period. 350 Years of Canadian English Formation at a Glance From then on, apart from the important number of French-Canadians in Quebec and its surrounding area, the population was almost entirely British. Indeed, the enormous immigration wave that took place in...
Translation is all around us thanks to client-driven multilingual translation projects At LingoStar, we love the variety of multilingual translation projects we work on. Translation is all around us, even if we don’t realize it. Thanks to advanced technologies, companies have many more opportunities to make their products and services available online. Therefore, many decide to localize and offer their products to a significantly larger number of speakers of various foreign languages, rather than resorting to English speakers only. Now more than ever before, people worldwide are using online tools to purchase and download products. Naturally, they want to do so in their native language. Interestingly, this presents an opportunity for many small, medium and freelance businesses to share their expertise and services as well. So, are you ready to localize your services and products into foreign languages and expand your online business? If so, find out how to localize your website in our ebook. A Beginner’s Guide to Multilingual Website Translation Multilingual Translations Help You Expand Internationally Many of our Canadian clients realize the potential for global expansion and entrust us with multilingual translation projects on a weekly basis. So let’s have our projects speak for themselves. We’ve selected a few projects to show you the variety of multilingual projects we carry out on behalf of our clients. We regularly complete translations for corporate documents, operating manuals, marketing materials, as well as multilingual phone recordings, professional voice-overs and so much more. Have a look at what we’ve been up to! If you need our help, we’ll be happy to issue a free translation quote here >>.Also, check out...
