Feb 25, 2015 | Blog, Translation
Spanish Language And Translation Why is Spanish so cool? Why is it the most popular foreign language to learn in America and Europe? The answer is pretty obvious: this language is everywhere. At least three million people speak it as their native language in 44 countries. Thus, making it the fourth-most widely spoken language in the world behind English (112 countries), French (60), and Arabic (57). So, 500 million people speak Spanish. It is a growing trend that will reach 600 million speakers by 2050! Spanish is an amazing language. If you want to learn a foreign language, you should definitely think about choosing this one. Spanish in North America Knowledge of the Spanish language is especially valuable in the US and Canada today. Especially for young adults preparing to enter the professional world, the ability to speak this language is a great skill. More and more companies are establishing international contacts and attract investments from other countries. A person speaking the language of the target audience always has better chances to get the desired position. The US and Canada have extensive cooperation with Spain and the countries of Central and South America. That is why the language factor will be one of a set of factors that will influence an employer’s decision to offer you a job. It is not surprising at all: Spanish is not only the second language used for international communication but also an official language of 22 countries! Are you still hesitating about learning it? Don’t. This will be love from the first…sound. Here at LingoStar, we offer you professional Spanish language tutoring: private...
Feb 23, 2015 | Blog, Translation
Chinese New Year As many of you know, on Thursday, February 19th Vancouver, as well as many other cities around the globe, celebrated Chinese New Year. For millions of people in Asia it is the biggest day of the year. In China, it is also known as the Spring Festival, the literal translation of the modern Chinese name. In this period we can see the world’s largest human migration as 2.8 billion people travel across China. Many students, migrant workers and employees living far from home make the journey back to their hometowns to celebrate this day with their families and friends. What do the Chinese do to be fully prepared for the New Year? First of all, several days before the New Year the Chinese do a complete cleaning of the house to get rid of all the old things and welcome the new ones. Then they decorate their house to welcome the New Year, mostly with red decorations. New Year’s dinner and fireworks are also two essential elements of a successful celebration. Moreover, children will receive red envelopes filled with money to bring happiness and good fortune. Some children sleep on their envelopes for seven days to increase their luck. It is important that only unmarried people can receive the red envelopes with money, and only married people can give them. Chinese New Year in Vancouver Cities like Vancouver are happy to celebrate the Chinese New Year. For instance, on February 22, 2015, events culminated in a full day of celebration in the heart of Chinatown. The annual Chinese New Year parade opens this fantastic day full of...
Feb 20, 2015 | Blog, Translation
Spanish Translation Spanish is one of the most requested languages for translation services in North America. This is no surprise. With a huge Spanish population living in the US and Canada, it is obvious why this is so important in these countries. As we have mentioned before, it is a huge mistake to think of Spanish as a singular, monolithic entity. Spanish has a lot of varieties, and most of them differ from each other to some extent. Therefore, Spanish of the US is no exception. Have you ever heard the term ‘founder effect’? The founder effect can trace linguistic features of modern dialects to dialect differences at the time of settlement. Linguists managed to identify a number of unique Spanish dialects in the territory of the US. These dialects have core features traceable to 16th – 17th century Spain. So, originally these dialects already had differences, and in the process of language evolution, these features became even more prominent. For instance, if you provide a translation into Mexican Spanish, you need to know that this dialect prefers ‘qué tanto’ to ‘cuánto’ for ‘how much’ and uses ‘qué tan + ADJECTIVE’ in expressing degree, as in ‘qué tan grande es?’ (how big is it?). Interpreters have to be ready for the strong sibilant pronunciation of the sound /s/ in the beginning of a word or syllable. This is the most prominent feature of Mexican Spanish, which it shares with northern Spain, central Colombia, and Andean countries. At LingoStar, we cooperate with professional translators who provide high-quality Spanish translation and interpretation services. Our translators are native speakers of various Spanish...
Feb 18, 2015 | Blog, Promotions, Translation
Zig Ziglar’s Motivational Quote Translation into French, Japanese, Italian, Russian, Czech, Ukrainian, Slovak Nobody tells you that having fun and relaxing in front of the TV is bad as all of us need some time to forget about all the stressful things in our life. Then, we just watch a new episode of the favourite show, go out with friends or simply spend an evening with family. However, one can appreciate these moments only when one works hard to achieve one’s goal. Otherwise, it is very hard to become successful. Therefore, if something goes wrong, stop complaining and start changing your life. It is impossible to become great if you don’t start moving towards your dream! In conclusion: Dream, learn, become a better person – and this life will help you succeed! Let’s translate today’s motivational quote together with LingoStar. Since the more translations we provide, the more people can read and understand it. Sometimes someone’s good words change people’s life. Therefore, don’t hesitate to contact us and send us your translation of the quote! Zig Ziglar’s Quote in English: You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. Motivational Quote Translation into French: Vous n’avez pas à être grand pour commencer, mais vous devez commencer pour être grand. – Zig Ziglar Translation into Japanese: 何かを始めるのに最初からうまくできる必要はないが、卓越できるようまずは始めなければならない。- ジグ・ジグラー Motivational Quote Translation into Italian: Non devi essere eccellente per cominciare, ma devi cominciare per diventare eccellente. – Zig Ziglar Translation into Russian: Не нужно быть великим, чтобы начать, но нужно начать, чтобы быть великим. – Зиг Зиглар Motivational Quote Translation into Czech: Nemusíte být úžasní...
Feb 13, 2015 | Blog, Translation
Spanish Translation Why does Spanish translation give rise to so many difficulties for translators and interpreters? This is probably because some of the regional varieties of the Spanish language are quite divergent from each other, especially in vocabulary and pronunciation. Only in the Americas can we enumerate many varieties of Spanish: Mexican Spanish, Guatemalan Spanish, Cuban Spanish, Amazonic Spanish, Colombian Spanish, Chilean Spanish, Peruvian Spanish, and many others. In the United States, for instance, Spanish is the most commonly used language after English. Spanish speakers in the US represent the fastest growing language minority in the country. Today the US is home to the fifth-largest Spanish-speaking population in the world (without undocumented Spanish speakers)! Although Spanish is all around us and we can hear it often, it differs from English a lot. Spanish is a romance language and its grammar causes most problems for translators from Spanish to English. What to keep in mind for a Spanish Translation Although the Spanish word order is similar to the English one, it has a different kind of information structure. Information structure is a very important aspect of every language. It describes how a sentence formally packages a sentence. As Spanish allows more flexibility, the words in the sentence can move from one position to the other. So, for instance, words that are to be stressed are usually placed at the end of the sentence. In English on the other hand, a word, and even a part of a word, can be stressed in any position. To avoid this mistake, interpreters need to be aware of the grammatical structure as well as...
Feb 11, 2015 | Blog, Translation
AArabic Translation in Canada The crisis in Syria has resulted in the displacement of millions of people, both within Syria and in the neighbouring countries. The overwhelming majority (97%) of people who fled the country live in 5 neighbouring countries: Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, and Egypt. So now some towns in these regions have as many refugees as locals. According to the Canadian Council of Refugees, the huge influx of new residents leads to enormous strain on the local systems. As a result, the schools are overflowing, and many Syrian children cannot attend local schools. Health services are stretched beyond capacity. Besides, the water supply is insufficient. So the Government of Canada has made a choice to support the Syrian people in their quest for democratic change. According to Immigration Minister Chris Alexander, Canada will resettle 10,000 more refugees over the next three year in frames of United Nations Refugee Agency’s global program of resettling 100,000 refugees worldwide. With such an inflow of Syrian refugees, Arabic translation services will be in great demand. Arabic Translation: Difficulties Translation from Arabic to English and vice versa may be problematic. Translators often find it difficult to bridge the cultural gap in rendering some Arabic utterances into English without distorting the meaning. The reason why Arabic – English translation is so confusing is that both Arabic and English belong to two absolutely different language families and have different cultures too. Often, a single English word is not enough to translate an Arabic word. Therefore, translators need to know this culture very well to give an adequate equivalent or descriptive translation. Arabic is a...
