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 …

Nearly 1 million children in the British school system are not native English speakers.In Europe, Britain is often held up as a model of a multicultural society. The model is being strained, however, by the number of schoolchildren who speak English as…

Language influences culture, and culture influences language. Language and culture are inextricably linked. When you think about it, the way a term is used can create a whole new mindset. For example, the term “geek” used to be an insult …

We most often associate technology with translation and localization. But the world of interpreting is impacted by technological change as well.The second North American Summit on Interpreting, which will be held this weekend in Washington, D.C., will …

English-speaking countries need to get up to snuff on foreign language study, but funding isn’t following.In a global economy, even if English is the predominant language of business, mastery of other languages is an important communication skill. T…

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…

One might think that geographical names would be universal — but this is far from the case.Languages would be a bit easier to learn if place names were always the same. Of course, different versions are inevitable when alphabets differ. But even amon…

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…