The new mediascape is cross-platform, on-demand and multilingual Languages & The Media Conference in Berlin this November Berlin, Germany. Across all sectors, personalised, on-demand service is no longer a luxury, but an expectation. When consuming media, users are looking for accessible, quality content across all platforms, at all times, in all languages. For the audiovisual […]

German-speakers often feel that they have more problems with the softer, social side of using English at work than with goal-orientated aspects of business, such as giving presentations, meetings or negotiating. In particular, making small talk with business partners can cause difficulties. A few simple tips can help. Make, don’t have! Semantics first. In English, […]

The Refugee Phrasebook is a crowdsourced project; a multilingual tool that provides basic useful vocabulary for the most common immediate needs. The tool provides helpful orientation, as well as phrases for health and legal interactions in various languages to assist refugees when they arrive in Europe. Although many languages are covered, there are still translations […]

Imagine coming home from a long vacation and finding out that the language you used to speak has evolved into something unrecognisable. Your father insists on being addressed as mdosi and your girlfriend will only respond to mshakaji. Oh and forget about buying cigarettes – since you’ve been gone, a rapper has popularised a new word […]

Throughout North America, many Native American languages are struggling to survive. More than 130 languages are currently at risk, with another 74 languages considered “critically endangered,” according to the New York Times. A new iPhone app from File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council hopes to spark interest in indigenous languages and make them more relevant to […]

“Ak ak ak…ak ak AK! Ak ak. Ak ak ak. ACK ACK!” That’s the sophisticated language used by giant-brained aliens in the film “Mars Attacks,” and the only fictional language I’ve ever memorised by heart (and used to yell at people). But it’s mere baby babble compared to the stunning variety of constructed languages (or […]

“Those most often left behind are language minorities. Keeping the promise of the MDGs requires a new understanding of the critical role of language in human development. Because there can be no true development without linguistic development, only by putting language at the centre of development can we close the gaps and meet key targets […]

Oh, that awkward moment when you try to make a joke in a foreign language only for it to lose all sarcasm and ‘punny’ (funny pun, in case that one got lost, too) context. We all know that humour is commonly lost in translation, but what about moral judgement? According to a recent study, using […]

by Bilal Ahmed It can be very difficult to learn a foreign language when you’re not surrounded by it. That is why many students go abroad for immersion programmes. The objective is to live with a language long enough that it becomes second nature. It is a temporary form of immigration: you assimilate in a […]

New technologies are facilitating the creation and dissemination of new forms of content. In a world where multilingualism is becoming the norm, these changes raise new challenges on media producers, distributors, consumers and translators. Simultaneously, advances in ICT continually bring innovative translation tools and services to the market. As the flow of content increases, so […]