Sep 23, 2022 | Blog, Translation, Worldwide
Every year, thousands of students come to Canada in order to start, continue, or finish their studies. There are many Canadian schools, programs, and careers available for everyone. If you want to study in Canada, you’ll have to find the one that best suits you. You’ll also need to find out, ahead of time, what type of documents in English and French you’ll need to submit to the authorities. Why study in Canada? People worldwide consider that the quality of education in Canada is outstanding — from as early as elementary school to post-secondary studies. In fact, more than 25 Canadian universities feature in the World University Rankings. This is mainly due to their strong focus on research and development. What’s more, the Canadian government offers great support for research in many fields. In terms of economy, studying in Canada is not as expensive as in other countries such as the US or the UK. Tuition fees in Canada might seem rather cheap due to the possibility of applying for a range of scholarships. The aim of these scholarships is to cut down your expenses. Lastly, another reason why you should consider studying in Canada is its safe and peaceful environment. It is the sixth most peaceful country in the world. The process of studying in Canada Canada’s Post-Graduation Work Permit Program (PWPP) allows international students to stay and work in Canada for up to three years after completion of their graduation. Not only can you gain some work experience, but you can also apply for permanent residency after some time. If you’ve decided to apply to study in...
Aug 28, 2022 | Blog, Language Varieties, Translation
About the Spanish language Spanish is one of the most spoken languages in the world, beaten only by Mandarin, English, and Hindi. It is a Romance language spoken by natives in Spain and most Central and South American countries. In Spain, the variant is Castilian Spanish. Let’s talk about the different varieties of Spanish. There are many variations of the Spanish language. You can find them everywhere. Each country has its own variant. In Spain, the official language is Castilian Spanish and it has many varieties. In Galicia, people also speak Gallego (Galician). One of the things that characterizes the language variation in this area is the exclusive use of the past simple. Some languages have past simple and past perfect, and so does Spanish. Read on to learn about some examples! Varieties of the Spanish language: past tenses La Fundéu and La Real Academia Española are some of the institutions in charge of explaining the correct use of the Spanish language. They recommend the use of both past perfect and past simple. However, in some parts of Galicia, Asturias, and in the Canary Islands, people frequently use the past simple. According to some studies, in Spain the past perfect is more common when talking about today or now. Meanwhile, the past simple is used when explaining something that was done: last night or yesterday, for example. So instead of saying “¿Por qué no ha venido con nosotros?” (in English, “Why didn’t he join us?”), the inhabitants of these areas would say “¿Por qué no vino con nosotros?”. Varieties of the Spanish language: expressions In Spain, there is a misconception...
Jul 27, 2022 | Blog, Communication, Language Services, Language Varieties, Translation, Worldwide
Discover Dutch and Flemish The Dutch and Flemish languages have many things in common. But they also have differences. Dutch is the official language of the Netherlands and one of the three official languages of Belgium. The population of Flanders, a northern Belgium region wedged between the North Sea and the Netherlands, speaks Dutch. However, the variant spoken here is known as Flemish. Flemish speakers account for 59% of the Belgian population. There are four principal Flemish dialects in Flanders. There is Brabantian, Limburgish, East Flemish, and West Flemish. But how do Dutch and Flemish differ from one another? Main differences between Dutch and Flemish The variations of this language don’t lay in grammar. The differences are in vocabulary and pronunciation. Usually, there are no changes in grammar; but in some dialects, the word order can change a little. Dutch speakers generally tend to pause between words; in Flemish, the words are often strung together. Let’s talk about the differences in pronunciation. Even those who don’t speak the language can perceive a variation in the pronunciation of different words. This is because the pronunciation of Flemish is more similar to French than Dutch, as Dutch leans more towards English. One example of this is the scraping G. The further you move south (from the Netherlands to Belgium), the sound of the letter G becomes softer, more like the French sound of the letter. The flow of words also becomes more relaxed. So we could say that Belgium has the softest version of Dutch (at least if we don’t take into account the African variants of the language). Do Dutch...
Jul 22, 2022 | Blog, Communication, Language Varieties, Translation, Worldwide
The vast majority of the people who live in the Netherlands speak English fluently. So do we need English and Dutch translations to target people in the Netherlands? In fact, at 70%, the Netherlands has the highest percentage of non-native English speakers in the world. The Netherlands is the only country in the European Union that doesn’t require foreigners to speak its own native language. This means that if you want to get a job, live, or even go to university there, you don’t need to prove that you speak a minimum level of Dutch. It is true that in most cases, students usually have to prove their language skills in the country’s official language before enrolling at a university; however, in the Netherlands, this is not the case, since many Dutch universities offer degrees in English. So compared to other countries, it is exceptionally easy to live in the Netherlands without speaking the country’s native language. About the Dutch language We may consider Dutch a small or not widely used language, but people actually speak it in several countries: it is the official language of the Netherlands and Belgium, where it takes the name of Flemish. People also speak it in Aruba, Suriname, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Germany, etc. Dutch has its roots in a dialect of Low German and a lot of its words come from English. This is why people usually say that Dutch is a mix of German and English. Dutch has 23 million native speakers all over the world. As we have mentioned before, Dutch is spoken in several countries: the Netherlands, Belgium, etc. However,...
Jun 21, 2022 | Blog, English language, Translation, Worldwide
The most spoken languages around the world English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Hindi and a whole lot more languages are spoken around the world. But do you know exactly how many? Well, the answer is 7,151! However, only 23 languages account for more than half of the world’s population. Nevertheless, we would like to talk about the top 10 most spoken languages in the world. First of all, it is important to point out that this top 10 has not always been the same. Indeed, the world is constantly changing, and with it the communities that speak different languages. They too are constantly changing. Some of them die, others are born, and others change according to the times in which they live. In 2022, at the top of the list, there is, unsurprisingly, English, immediately followed by Mandarin Chinese, each with over 1 billion speakers. In third place, there is Hindi, with more than 650 million speakers, and Spanish, spoken by more than 500 million people. French, Bengali, Modern Arabic, Portuguese, Russian and Urdu follow in our list, with over 200 million speakers each. The most spoken languages over the last century If we take a look at the top 10 in the early 1900s, we can see how slightly different things were. Indeed, the most spoken language was Mandarin Chinese. However, this is not unexpected due to the huge number of Chinese inhabitants. What may be more surprising, instead, is that the second most spoken language was not English, but Spanish. English gained the second position in 1911 and the first position only in 2013!...
May 25, 2022 | Blog, Holidays, Translation, Worldwide
Relation between travel and translation If you look in a dictionary, you will discover that the English term “translation” has two meanings. The first one says: the process of translating words or text from one language into another. The second one states: the process of moving something from one place to another. We can say that travel and translation are rather connected. A traveller moves from a place to another in order to discover new cities, new words and new cultures. In the same way, translating is a passage from one language to another, from a source culture to a target one. Thus, travel and translation are very much interconnected as they both focus on the idea of movement and passage. So, what happens when a traveller simply moves with their language and culture to another country? Travel books and translation Travel literature translated into many different languages tells us about foreign countries so we can understand facts about other cultures. By reading travel books we can discover new countries. They unveil for us what is hiding out there in the big world. They also allow us to study and compare different cultures. At the same time, a travel writer or a travel blogger translates new travel experiences. They also tell us about another reality by converting their travel experiences into a travel book or a travel blog. The most important moment of a trip and a tale starts when a traveller arrives in some unknown place and must find their way into a new culture. Similarly, a translator describes an experience by translating it from one language to...
