Ark All Saints Academy, a secondary school in Camberwell, London, has embarked on a journey to curb its pupils from using slang within the formal school setup. Particularly, this school wants to discourage the increased use of “basically” at the beginning of sentences and other phrases like “oh my days,” “oh my God,” and “ermmm,” […]
During the process of localizing a text, unforeseen events may arise that imply an extra effort on the part of the translation team; from technical or specific vocabulary, to terms with different meanings or connotations in other languages. Nothing that a little research and dedication canāt solve. Many glossaries, term bases and style guides are […]
In my previous post āUnderstanding English-Language Idioms,ā I discussed the peculiarity of idioms. Idioms are expressions used in informal language that donāt actually mean what their literal meaning would suggest, which is often rather strange. We use idioms every day without putting much thought into their literal meaning or their origin. However, idioms can also […]
Idioms are one of the most interesting yet curious aspects of language due to their often comical references which may actually have absolutely nothing to do with their real meaning. However, we often donāt realize how odd most idioms actually are until we begin learning a foreign language and are confronted by this new languageās […]
Without any doubt, each World Cup is an event that fires up passions and moves multitudes across the world. And even though itās a sport known in almost every country, with common rules understood by all, it presents an endless list of linguistic and cultural considerations that we must not overlook, all the less so […]
When reading a novel translated into Spanish, most readers hope it will have a āneutralā form of Spanish; that is, one without regional characteristics specific to any particular Spanish-speaking country. Of course, such an undertaking is practically impossible, as there are many words in Spanish that do not have a āuniversalā equivalent. This is the […]
There is no doubt that as translators we face constant challenges while doing our job. An example would be, while translating literary works we may come across more than one cultural obstacle for which we must have an answer to. Amongst these cultural obstacles, we find proverbs to be quite the challenge. Through proverbs, cultures […]
The Spanish language is very rich in aphorisms, idioms, axioms and other sayings. To speak Spanish fluently, one must understand these phrases that are so ingrained in out literary history and the daily lives of those in Spanish speaking countries. This is why, for translators it is of extreme importance (especially for non-native speakers) to […]
For someone who did not grow up as being bilingual, I believe that gaining fluency or becoming bilingual is a life-long process. Often, one of the keys to sounding like a native is knowing a languageās idioms. However, idioms can often be tricky for non-native speakers as they usually canāt be literally translated. It’s fun […]
Idioms, which many translators are loathe to agree, are unavoidable in translation. While most people with a solid understanding of the source language shouldnāt come up against too many hurdles, the problem is that they are so region specific. Some idioms used in Australia wonāt mean anything to people from the United States, and vice […]