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So, your husband or wife received a once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity which requires a move to a foreign land and you are now the official “trailing spouse,” something you never thought you would be. And trailing spouses are not always willing, which is understandable. Trying to juggle the practicalities of an international move, supporting children and learning all about a new country is a mountain-sized TO DO list. While their spouse’s career is on a role, the trailing spo

We all know being a translator is a demanding job – one that requires understanding not only a language, but the people who speak it, their habits, their culture and the grammar that tags along with all of that. Sometimes it can be confusing and frustrating when dealing with certain challenges which include—but are not limited to—the following: Structure & Rules Every language has a defined structure and rules. Translation difficulty lies in a language’s complexity and flexib

Let’s say you have a forty page, 300-question survey, written in Portuguese by a colleague in your Lisbon office. It needs to be translated into English, German, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Bengali, and Mandarin. And it needs to go live in one week. What do you do? Here is some advice we give our clients: Know Your Goals It is important to pinpoint the all of the project’s parameters. This enables you to understand the breadth of the project and make it easier to communicat

In a world teeming with different language and cultures, what does it take to reach the international consumer? What is the role of translators who need to make intelligible a certain perspective while still staying attuned to linguistic modes and cultural idiosyncrasies? How can creative teams communicate their messages, slogans, logos and branding while avoiding being ignored or – worse yet – offending an entire culture/country? The reality is that international campaigns m

Gone are the days when doing business globally took months. Although the world may be getting figuratively smaller in the information age, there are still distinct cultural differences among nations that will influence international marketing efforts. Since companies have a seemingly endless list of possible international partners, knowing a certain culture’s programming will give your company a competitive edge. Here are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to marketin

A person’s accent is based on the cadence and pronunciation of their native language (and the region in which that’s spoken).  Your accent can be hard or even impossible to lose – an issue I explored in another article on this blog. Luckily, there are some strategies you can use in situations where an accent is keeping you from understanding someone, or from being understood: – Practice.  Just listening can be helpful. Try to watch local TV programs or movies made in the regi

There are a lot of challenges in the doctor-patient relationship.  One that’s becoming increasingly noticeable as society gets more global is cultural differences. Here are just a few ways a patient’s culture affects their health, as well as their relationship with healthcare providers: – Lifestyle.  Certain health issues are more common among particular populations, often due to cultural norms.  For example, soft drinks, fast food, and relying mostly on cars for transportati

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of online articles and lists of “the easiest languages to learn.”  Some of these lists have even made their way to aiaTranslations’ Facebook page. Their appeal is totally understandable.  And, as an EFL teacher, bilingual, and language lover, I’m all for people learning a new language, regardless of its difficulty level.  But there are a few things that bother me about this “easy language” list trend. For one, as most of these articles will reve

If you follow aiaTranslations on Facebook, you may have noticed the adorable illustrations of animal sounds in different languages that we’ve been posting from time to time. Also seen on sites like Buzzfeed, they were drawn by James Chapman, an artist who creates “illustrations of onomatopoeia from around the world”. But Chapman’s not the only one to be inspired by this subject. There are countless articles, lists, studies, drawings, forum posts, diagrams, recordings, and son

Recently, The Korea Times exposed a scandal of sorts, reporting that the English-language version of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s website hadn’t been updated in at least a month, and didn’t even feature a photo or biography of the government branch’s new minister. Not to mention that the site’s English version seems to be far less monitored and informative than its Korean-language counterpart. You might wonder why this matters – after all, this is a South Korean sit

When I first heard the word “transcreation”, I was surprised.  Did we really need this portmanteau? Shouldn’t all translation be not just about words, but meaning, as well?   But when you think about it, not all translation clients – or translators – think this way.  Many people consider translation to simply be a bare-bones affair, a “Just the facts, ma’am” situation.  I’ve even experienced it myself: a potential client once contacted me to see if I could translate the compl

I’ve often written about how, when it comes to translation, nothing beats a professional, qualified human being.  There may be some advantages to using translation apps and bots, or amateurs, but you run a pretty solid risk of ending up with not-so-great results.  Still, like anything in life, there are exceptions.  Take “translating” old manuscripts and books to e-books. I say “translating” because it turns out that it’s more than just using technology to convert text from o

Translation and localization – that is, adapting text not only to a new language, but to the culture attached to it – aren’t easy. That’s why it’s usually best to hire a professional.  Still, even the best translators can run into problems when it comes to dealing with certain languages and cultures. Take, for example, this fascinating article, which explains how coder Ibrahima Sarr had to adapt computer terminology to Fulah, a West African language spoken by about 25 million

At first, a doctor might believe I’m just an average patient. But the minute a needle comes out, all bets are off. A boyfriend of mine thought I was exaggerating when I told him about my needle phobia, saying what I’m sure just about anyone who suffers from this condition has heard a million times: “Well, nobody likes needles!” The next time I had to get blood drawn, I asked him to come with me. He thought I wanted him to hold my hand. He — along with an extra nurse who w

It’s amazing how many written documents exist, both in concrete and virtual form. And just as amazing is the fact that these aren’t all the texts that could have existed. Everything from unforeseen and unfortunate events, to a heavy hand with a “delete” button mean that many written words that once were, are no more. In addition to the ones that are anonymous or unknown, there are also, of course, texts that were lost that we’re unlikely to recover. For example, have you h

Nine out of ten journalists say that statistics are an important part of their research and reporting.  Okay, I made that up, but it seems like the truth.  Statistics are little bits of information that easily illustrate the scope of something. They also feel reliable. Maybe that’s because you can check who conducted a study or gave a poll, or maybe it’s because they’re expressed in numbers, which always seem sort of stable and less prone to trickiness than words. But, as thi

So, you’ve built your company’s website.  The images look great. The text is professional, convincing, and perfectly polished.   All is well.  Except, of course, if you’re looking to expand into other markets.  Then, you’ll need to do it all over again, in another language.  But it’s not just about linguistic translation – you’ll also have to think about translation on a cultural level. This may seem obvious.  For example, if you use Yahoo!, you’ve probably noticed that, in a

With their minute attention to detail, nowadays it seems like watching a historically-set movie or TV show is about as close as you can get to traveling back in time.  But as fans and scholars have pointed out, no matter how good they might look, one way most historically set entertainment fails to correctly capture the past is with language. A common target for this kind of criticism is the series Downton Abbey.  While its sets and especially its costumes seem to evoke the s

This ongoing series will provide succinct guidance to buyers of translation services. Identifying What Actually Needs Translation This may seem like a strange question, but before sending anything out for translation, you should be very clear on what needs translation and what does not.  Does the entire 400 page document need to be translated or are there pertinent sections?  Does the patient information section need to be translated or has it been done previously?  Do you ne

April is, among other things, IBS Awareness Month.  I have to admit, as a longtime sufferer of this disease, it was with a bit of curiosity, and even some pride, that I looked online for my community’s announcement of this important event. With up to 23% of the world’s population afflicted by it, I figured we had a large talent pool to draw from. Surely someone had come up with a clever, memorable, and/or incredibly touching YouTube video or something. But actually, IBS Aware