Author Archives: admin
Shubbak: London’s Summer of Arabic Arts
Artwork by Noureddine Daifallah London has a sizeable Arabic population, and a few areas of high density (the area around Edgware Road is the best known, with a long established Arabic community). So it’s surprising to find out that the Shubbak festival this month is London’s first ever Arabic arts festival. The festival of contemporary [...]
Polish poems on the Underground
Pic: Annie Mole (under CC BY 2.0) who also writes the excellent Going Underground blog “Poems on the Underground” has been sharing poetry with London’s travelling public since 1986. Poems are displayed in lieu of adverts in Tube carriages. The latest round of posters highlight the work of Polish poets.
British English translation that’s not bad at all
President Obama’s visit to London seems to have led to a timely resurrection of the Anglo-EU guide. This graphic gives an amusing sideways glance at phrases commonly used in business and bureaucracy with the “translation” of British:
Posted in British English, funny, localisation, London, Obama 1 Comment
Uncover global languages with captivating interactive atlas
Anyone who shares my fascination with language and uncovering the obscure will enjoy browsing the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger. There are reckoned to be over 6,000 languages in the world with some half of those under threat of extinction this century.
American & British English translation? It’s behind you!
(Click for professional American to British translator) Even when two people apparently speak the same language, regional variations or a lack of local knowledge can lead to total misunderstanding.
Posted in American English, British English, English, funny, localisation, London 1 Comment
Colour coding cultural translation
Pic: Stéfan via Wikimedia Commons At first glance, do you think this picture shows a predominantly good or a bad day for investors on the Tokyo stock market? When working on your multilingual publications or websites it is worth considering the cultural significance of colours used in design and imagery.
Posted in Japanese, localisation, pictures, translation, website design, website translation 1 Comment
Chinese Translation a shoe in for Chinese tourists?
An unusual tourist destination for Chinese tourists in the UK is revealed by the Metro today. The Clarks shoe museum, in the small Somerset village of Street, is hoping for coaches full of tour groups.
Posted in business growth, Chinese, Chinese typesetting, tourism 5 Comments
Arabic transliteration: what’s in a name?
The eagle-eyed following events in Libya will have noticed that not all news sources agree on how to spell the name of the man who has ruled there for 40 years. Go to the BBC and you will see Muammar Gaddafi mentioned. The New York Times calls him Muammar el-Qaddafi. CNN or Forbes will tell [...]
Posted in Arabic 2 Comments
Glimpsing the heart of London
Pic: © Bob Collins, Courtesy Museum of London An exhibition of “London Street Photography” opened last week at the Museum of London. It provides a fascinating glimpse of London life throughout the last 150 years, using street photography largely from the museum’s archive that has not been widely exhibited before.
Posted in Chinese, London, Portuguese 1 Comment
Fry up enriched by many flavours