Japanese

Japanese ranks as one of the world’s most important languages with over 126 million speakers.  The majority of speakers, about 124 million, reside within Japan and the island group of Okinawa.

 

Being Bilingual Makes You Smarter

Knowing more than one language can be seen as an advantage in many ways.  It can help in social and educational situations as well as increasing employment opportunities.  But now scientists are finding out that being bilingual can even make you smarter.   According to an article in the NY Times, being bilingual “can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age.”

The article explains that because both ..read more

Yoko meshi (yo-ko-me-she)

Yoko meshi is a Japanese noun.  Definition: A metaphor for the stress of trying to understand another language.  ”Yoko” means horizontal and “meshi” means boiled rice.  The literal translation of the phrase is a meal that is eaten sideways.  Given that Japanese is read vertically and most languages are read horizontally, the expression captures the mind-bending challenge of processing words in new ways.

 

Whole Living magazine, Jan/Feb 2012

Language Immersion

Below is an excerpt from a very interesting blog posted by the principal of the Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School.  Mr. Carpenter was chosen to travel to Berlin with a number of other school administrators.  His observations about the similarities and differences between the two school systems is eye-opening.

My week in Germany centered on an immersion in the German educational system.  I visited both public and private secondary schools, a university, and a technical academy run by a global corporation.  ..read more

Best Careers for 2011

US News and World Reports named Interpreter/Translator as on of the Best Careers for 2011. The report explains, “Pharmaceutical inserts, instruction manuals, and textbooks—these are just a few of the documents that translators rework in English or other languages. At courthouses around the country and conferences throughout the world, interpreters help people of different tongues communicate. While both interpreters and translators convert one language into another, interpreters work with the spoken word, and translators the written word. ..read more

Greek Words

There are two Greek words for time: chronos and kairos. Chronos is the minutes, hours, days of our lives. Kairos is the word for more event-centered, memorable time. Kairos is used for the moments when you are truly experiencing your life. Rosemary Ellis, Editor in Chief of Good Housekeeping, writes “My resolution is to live more in kairos instead of chronos – to look for and seize more of those moments that make for a rich, ..read more

Talk the Talk

An interesting observation by Peter Fretty; “Ever find yourself in situations where you struggle to communicate with the people around you? It can be frustrating, to say the least. After all, our ability to converse with each other makes the world go around. As global borders continue to blur, the growing need to add additional languages to our repertoire becomes strikingly evident.”

How to Become a Translator or Interpreter

The translation and interpretation business has become a large industry. As the US market becomes global, the need for communication in various languages expands. Many people have the skills to become a successful translator or interpreter but need the steps to break into this emerging field. Here are some of the key points to becoming successful.

Know the difference between translation and interpretation. Translation is the procedure of converting the meaning of written text from a given ..read more

Deja vu

Deja vu is a French word meaning “already seen”. It is the experience of feeling sure that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously. The term was coined by a French psychic researcher, Emile Boirac (1851- 1917).

Languages in Haiti

 French is one of two official languages in Haiti. All Haitians speak Haitian Creole which is the country’s other official language. Spanish is also spoken by a growing amount of the population but this is mostly near the border with the Dominican Republic. English is increasingly spoken among the young and in the business sector.

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