Language focus

Until the beginning of the twentieth century written Norwegian was almost identical to Danish. The spoken language was always different, with its own dialects, but because of the political union of Norway and Denmark (from 1380 to 1814) there was a strong Danish influence on the written language. This influence continued after 1814, when Norway…

The 23rd of April is widely accepted as the date on which our Patron Saint George died and is England’s National Day. We thought it appropriate to mention the Patron Saint of England on this notable day, and to mention that although Saint George’s Day is not celebrated in England with anywhere near the same…

In a society seemingly obsessed with gossip and propaganda, we were curious to see how far this phenomenon stretches. Stephanie, Account Manager in our Manchester office investigates: “The word gossip dates back to 16th Century Old English and the verb seems to have been brought to life by our literary hero William Shakespeare. It’s fair…

Romance languages can be strikingly similar or sometimes even identical. For example, ‘beer’, ‘football’ and ‘sport’ have near identical spelling and pronunciation in English and French. However, the same is also true to a much smaller extent with English and Japanese. Western culture infiltrated Japan at the outset of the 20th century, resulting in western…

A good translation is not always self-evident. It requires careful preparation, good experience and most of all you need to be a native speaker. Our eyes fell on a Belgian article published last month, which serves as a perfect illustration. A Belgian PR-company, HL Event, had sent out invitations for a VIP-arrangement at the French…

An ATM machine in London has come up with a new idea of displaying its commands in Cockney Slang, is this localisation gone mad – or just a little bit of fun? According to Ron Delnevo, managing director of Bank Machine; the company responsible for these unique cash points; he “…wanted to introduce something fun…

From Chile to Scotland, the prevalence and popularity of pre-school language programmes are booming as the professional, cultural and educational benefits brought about by the ability to speak another language are becoming more apparent. Coupled with research work carried out by academic and European institutions into multilingualism and its effects, these pioneering schemes are taking…