What comes up in a Google search for Christmas and translation?This seasonal “Language Links” post will answer a question that somehow came to my mind this week: what is floating around the web on the subject of Christmas + translation? Fi…

Language interpreters, especially those who interpret less-spoken languages, often have fascinating life histories.Local newspapers have been publishing plenty of articles the past few years about medical interpreters and how they started their careers…

“Europe” is a vast multilingual and multicultural patchwork; so don’t assume that English is always enough to do business there.Americans travelling in Europe are often impressed by how well the population speaks English. Or if they aren’t…

Musicals are being produced in more countries than ever before. The question is: how can they translate?Historically, musical comedies have largely been an American and British tradition. In the past, musical comedy productions were relatively rare in …

Any type of automatic translation gives iffy results, but voice to text has an especially long way to go. In my language teaching career, I have been confronted with software that is supposed to measure the correction of students’ accents and int…

A new index sets out to define the geographical areas and industry sectors where business English is spoken the best.Last week, we posted about the pros and cons of using English as an international business language. I tend to agree with one of the e…

You may have learned to answer this type of question in grade school, and at least some of what you think you know is likely wrong.Many countries have several official languages, and most of us know…well, most of us at least know that Canada is offic…

Amazon’s deliciously low-tech e-reader can be put to use for travel translation.As summer approaches, a lot of virtual ink is being spilled about the best translation apps for smartphones and tablet computers. So, is the Kindle totally off of the trave…

In 2005, dozens of US language experts got together and set up an excellent website about languages: The 5-Minute LinguistSix years ago, the US Senate agreed on something, and declared 2005 "The Year of Foreign Language Study." The conc…

In 2005, dozens of US language experts got together and set up an excellent website about languages: The 5-Minute LinguistSix years ago, the US Senate agreed on something, and declared 2005 "The Year of Foreign Language Study." The conc…