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What is the UN French Language Day? On 20 March, we once again celebrate UN French Language Day, a global celebration of linguistic diversity and

Proofreading for non-native academic authors At Rosetta Translation we regularly receive requests to proof academic papers or research material. Most of these requests are from researchers

What is the International day of Sign Languages? The International Day of Sign Languages is one of the most recent arrivals in the annual procession

In her book Sleeping Beauties, neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan explores the phenomenon of culture-bound illnesses around the world. The conditions she is interested in are psychosomatic

Having recently got sucked in to the joy of cycling, I have found myself adding long weekend bike rides to my existing schedule of regular

One distinctive difference between English and German is the greater flexibility over word order and sentence structure in the latter language. German is described as

How Tiktok can influence mainstream language “This is why you need to go on TikTok mum, you are missing out on quality content for your

The need to translate English into English is more common than you might imagine, where phrases of English are deployed in a foreign language and

The topic of false friends comes up regularly in translation, and this week’s collection of translation glitches are similar but perhaps better described as “friends

Previously, this blog touched briefly on the importance of punctuation when reviewing translation work, especially the need to adapt punctuation style from the source language

Language — or rather text — played a key role in the recent high-profile departure of the president of Harvard University, Claudine Gay. The simple

In 2014, the BBC’s Panorama programme reported on what was described as widespread cheating in English language tests that formed part of the international student

This blog previously described the pleasure a translator can find in perusing multilingual instructions for a new domestic appliance, which often feature some entertainingly dismal

One of the greatest pleasures in working with language every day is the appreciation you develop for neat turns of phrase or vocabulary possibilities in

We’ve had a New Zealand visitor with us for the last few months, which has provided a great opportunity to revel in regional linguistic differences,

Proofreading Checklist Part I: Vocabulary One of the benefits of doing regular review work as a translator is that it offers useful reminders of things

One of the first things I noticed many moons ago when working as an au pair in Germany, was the way the definite article was

My ever-expanding list of language topics I should know more about has long since had sign language on it, and my interest increased when my

Back in 2018 Rhodri Williams, the outgoing director of Ofcom Wales, warned that the growth of streaming services such as Netflix could have a detrimental

Every translator understands that dictionaries have their limits when it comes to selecting the right word. A fascinating example of this cropped up recently in

Words do not have neat one-to-one mappings between languages. You do not need to be a very advanced language learner to be aware of that

After another immersion in the world of fashion translation, I have once again emerged in awe of the repetitive and often vacuous nature of fashion

A few years ago, my eldest daughter and I set ourselves the task of hiking the North Downs Way, a long distance trail which takes

Yorkshire dialects are an endangered species In the grand tradition of “things aren’t what they used to be”, discussions of globalisation and an increasingly mobile

Duolingo: an addictive language learning tool I have a track record with new technology: phase one involves scepticism and refusal to engage, phase two is

The allure of the smartphone makes it difficult to focus on reading an old-fashioned book. Even with notifications turned off, the tantalising prospect of the

Typos and misspellings: the bane of a writer’s existence Typos send a chill down the spine of any translator or proofreader. Catching an unintended slip-up

In a recent post about the limitations of ChatGPT, this blog touched on the often mundane nature of the chatbot’s output. Having recently been immersed

This week’s blog will boost the spirits of any translator feeling demoralised at the growth of machine translation by reminding us that a bit of

Attitudes to corporate language policies might best be summed up by the quote attributed to John Lydgate, “You can please some of the people all

Contemporary concerns over climate change and the threat of extreme weather conditions may not be entirely new. Researchers attempting to decipher the runic inscriptions on

Like most kids, my three offspring regard parental advice with a hefty dose of suspicion, including when it comes to book recommendations. So, one of

Recently I have done several projects which involved translating recipes. On the face of it this seems like a simple task: take the list of

Obsession with the marathon This blog post on the language of the marathon is shamelessly influenced by your blogger’s obsession with running! April is the

Most of the world’s alphabets are at least a thousand years old and we often take them for granted. The first alphabet is thought to

The trouble with being a linguist is that your familiarity with the source language can sometimes distract you from conventions in the target language. Or

In his book The Signal and the Noise, Nate Silver talks about the proliferation of information following the invention and history of the printing press

Worst human translation errors “To err is human, to forgive divine” and that is the spirit we will adopt for this week’s blog post, which

  As the data collected in the 2021 census is gradually processed and released by the Office for National Statistics, interesting patterns are emerging about

Who can resist a new gadget? The shiny box, the gleaming device, the prospect of some cool new technology to play with. But for translators

“Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That’s why it’s so hard.” Wise words from American popular historian and two-time Pulitzer Prize

Historical language shifts are easiest to describe after the fact when you can track how a particular usage has evolved over time. Spotting language change

Etymology shows us that German has the honour of having loaned some spectacular vocabulary to English. Where would we be without Schadenfreude, Zeitgeist and Wanderlust?

Recently this blog looked at updates to English language requirements to facilitate recruitment of medical professionals to the UK from overseas. In India, the government

I take up yoga on a regular basis and drop it again just as regularly in despair at my less than flexible limbs. There is

As a former student of German at Cambridge University, the Times headline “Cambridge seizes Zeitgeist with gender-neutral German” immediately caught my eye. Despite the bold

False friends are a favourite topic for linguists and translators and something this blog has covered previously, describing them as lexical con artists. In this

What are retronyms? The world changes and language races to keep up. Sometimes a word that had a very clear meaning becomes more ambiguous as

Ambrose Bierce (1842 – ca 1914) was an American author and journalist, best known to language lovers as the creator of the Devil’s Dictionary, first

A discussion of the specialised terminology and catchphrases used in different professions prompted my writer/director brother to give me a rundown of some of the