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The importance of foreign languages Having been immersed in a different language from a young age and subsequently pursuing my passion of learning and speaking languages throughout my school life and into my adult career I find it very hard to understand the lack of interest in foreign languages at…

I love English! It’s so versatile and rich in synonyms, turns of phrase and idiomatic expressions. In fact, I like nothing more than expressing something in the written word. When I was younger my mum used to bring out a poem after dinner on occasion, and if we had a…

Knowing a rare or less–used language has traditionally been considered as a resume advantage, a way to edge out the competition within the ever-shrinking jobs pool. But what do recruiters really think about the languages we know (or claim to know?) A spread of languages will undoubtedly make reading your…

The life, death and maintenance of languages is a concept that has kept me amazed since childhood. With recent talks of language extintion I explore the language life cycle to see how the world’s many languages can be kept alive. The Life Of Languages Since I started writing for a…

I know that China’s economy is booming and that it’s going to be the next economic giant, perhaps one day it will rule the world, so learning Chinese should be the option to choose if looking for an Asian language to learn. In fact, I would recommend that you do…

I recently read a fascinating article about the evolution of language (BBC Focus magazine), and was inspired to write today’s blog on the same subject. I’ve always been interested in language, the differences between them and, later in life, how we learn languages and indeed how the spoken word changes…

I think I often take for granted what I know about languages and translation, this is often brought home to me working here as many clients and potential clients are often (and I don’t want this to sound patronising in anyway) ‘clueless’ about the costs and time involved in order…

A sombre health warning has to be given first. The following advice is completely unsolicited, biased, quite possibly uncalled-for, and comes from a grumpy, balding, middle-aged and somewhat hungover principal owner of a UK translation company. If taken seriously, it might therefore eliminate any trace of illusion and, possibly, enthusiasm…

We have previously expressed thoughts on how to trust new translators. I would now like to attempt to answer a somewhat similar question: how can you trust a new interpreter?   In our industry we work mainly with freelance translators and interpreters. Whilst with translators you can test and "assess"…