The Use of the Period in English and Spanish
The period (full stop) is the punctuation mark that marks the grammatical and logical end of a sentence. The main difference comes from its greatest
July 3, 2009
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Two Different Internal Logics
In English, we use concision (many short words or phrases) as well as an economy of language (fewer words), the preference we demonstrate for the
June 19, 2009
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The Use of the Dash in English and Spanish
This punctuation mark is, in Spanish, the equivalent to parentheses, though it does have one function that differs: marking off asides that are suggestive, ironic,
June 12, 2009
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Parataxis, Ellipsis, and Litotes in English and Spanish
In English, I feel that I encounter parataxis more often than in the Romance languages (though I have no good evidence to back this up).
May 15, 2009
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The Use of Quotation Marks
The principal function of quotation marks is to mark quotes and dialogues. In Spanish, there are two formulas for dialogues: dashes and quotation marks. The
May 8, 2009
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The Extension of the Period and Links Between Sentences
The custom in English today of having expository clarity give precedence to short sentences that are separated by periods, whereas in Spanish the are considered
April 30, 2009
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The Use of the Article in English and Spanish
In English, unlike Spanish, uses the indefinite article before the generic predicate. The article plays its essential role, which is to singularize an object among
April 29, 2009
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Commas in English and Spanish
In English, we generally use a comma in front of the conjunctions “and” and “or”. The structures in English allow for us to skip the
April 20, 2009
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Favorite Words in Other Languages
The majority of the people I have exchanged emails and comments with on this blog are not just translators of one language pair, but polyglots
April 1, 2009
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Italian, the Successor of Latin
In the Roman Empire, spoken language (vulgar Latin) differed from written language (literary Latin). Romance languages derive from vulgar Latin, the spoken variety. The language
March 27, 2009
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Subject Verb Object
Both English and Spanish follow the S-V-O (subject – verb – object) order, though each to a different degree. In contemporary English, this scheme is
March 27, 2009
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The RAE Dictionary
What do we mean when we say that the RAE (Real Academia Española) Dictionary is the only “accepted” dictionary for translating into or from Spanish?
January 20, 2009
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