What is Verbophobia?
“And there is also verbophobia, which is the fear of words. In that case, it is best to keep quiet, said Juan de Dios Martínez. It’s a bit more complicated
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December 9, 2016
“Shouldn’t you be out on a Ledge Somewhere?”
Our collective imagination is not very kind toward people who are passionate about writing. Largely, we imagine writers out on a ledge somewhere, spewing melancholy all over the place, in
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December 5, 2016
What are quotation marks used for?
A few days ago I was struck by a sign that was written as: BEWARE OF “DOG”. This sparked a thought on the correct uses of quotation marks. Many times,
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December 2, 2016
An Academy of the English Language…Not
Is the English language perfect as it is? As it continuously evolves (and sometimes regresses) and transforms, should there be a body in charge of regulating it? These are some
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November 28, 2016
The Language of Emotions
All humans are able to make the same sounds. However, each language has its own particular way of employing them. Just as each language follows different grammatical rules, it also
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November 25, 2016
The Future of Translation: A Matter of Patterns or Delicate Craft?
As the famous Chilean translator, Marina Orellana, once said, “Translation is not transliteration, that is, the transcription of words from one language to another. (…) What really matters is to
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November 21, 2016
What is Papiamento?
When you’re on vacation you want everything to be easy and relaxing. And for many, apart from resting and exploring our destination of choice, we would also like to be
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November 18, 2016
Copywriting: A Minefield of Horrid Translations
It is difficult enough to write good copy in one’s own language. The first struggle is combining the commercial mindset with the creative mindset. Stereotypes teach us that commercial employees
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November 14, 2016
A Language Home Run
After a 108-year drought, the Chicago Cubs made it to the World Series and won it, which is not just a major event for Cubs fans, but for baseball fans
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November 8, 2016
Quality Assurance Vs. Quality Control
One of the main goals of any organization that provides a good or service to customers is to ensure the quality of the product they offer in order to increase
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November 5, 2016
The Importance of Professional Translators and Interpreters
A few weeks back, I read an article about the controversy concerning an error in the translation of a speech that was given by Diyab Jihad, a Syrian refugee in
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November 4, 2016
The Challenges of Learning German
The German language is notorious for being difficult to learn, and it can be said that this reputation is based on factual evidence. However, those who don’t have a deeper
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October 28, 2016
