Archive for 2013

Monday 30 December 2013
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Britishness #2

We're going to continue with our mini posts covering some of those idiosyncrasies that make many of the British so British. One of those idiosyncracies is the apparent obsession with queuing.

The British are often thought of as polite, if not overly so, by many others[i]. Standing in a queue is a British phenomenon often seemingly unheard of in many other European countries where said Brits are frequently appalled by the lack of order and manners on display when waiting for public transport or fairground rides in foreign parts. British people being cynical of themselves will often be heard referring to their compatriots having an in-built desire to stand in a queue if they see one. This could be taken in a positive light, however, as it could reflect a desire to benefit because clearly if there is a queue there must be something worth waiting for at the end of it. Nonetheless, we British like to think that queue-standing, no doubt what others would consider loitering, is another way to be polite, by forming an orderly queue[ii].

So, what do you think? Are the British a "nation of queuers"?  The BBC link below provides some quite interesting further reading. I hope you enjoy it.


http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/magazine/sorry-excuse-me-please-could-i-possibly 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23087024

Translations2u is a UK based legal translation specialist offering multiple languages, various translation topics and business support services.
Tuesday 24 December 2013
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Muslims, Islam & Christmas



The Holy Quran and Sunnah (Life of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him PBUH)) guide a Muslim’s life.  Encompassed within those is the Shariah Law.  Together those three things aptly govern the life and affairs of Muslims and provide a compass to live in accordance with holy text and religious legislation.  For Muslims there are two holidays, during their calendar, which are widely celebrated bringing great joy and happiness.  They are the Eid that comes at the end of the 30-day fast of Ramadan and another Eid, which comes at the end of the pilgrimage of Hajj where Muslims from around the world visit the holy city of Mecca.

Anything outside of these celebrations is sorely frowned upon.  Nothing within the text of the Holy Quran, the Sunnah, Islamic law (Shariah Law) conforms or urges the Muslims to celebrate or participate in Christmas festivities.  Doing such is seen as outside the boundaries of Islam. However it must be stated that Islam prohibits the Muslim from denigrating, castigating, or besmirching, the ways, practices and festivities of other religions.  They can disagree but to be repugnant, vitriol, or outlandish is completely wrong. 

With all the hoopla, discount sales, visits to Santa Claus and more just how does a Muslim feel during this time of the year.  If a Muslim is practicing his faith, neither fervor nor excitement enters his heart during this time of year.  Neither does fervor or excitement enter his heart during New Years Eve, New Year’s Day, Palm Sunday, Easter, the Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Halloween, or Thanksgiving.

The Muslim may however wonder what a Christmas tree decorated with balls has to do with the birth of Christ.  He may wonder what Santa Claus and reindeer have to do with the three wise men that came bearing gifts to the baby Jesus.  He may wonder why none of this is written about in the Holy Bible.  He may just wonder what is really the purpose of Christmas. 

The Muslim will be polite and cordial to friends who are in the midst of celebrating.  He most likely will decline invitations to holiday parties and good cheer.  He will use the time to reflect upon the goodness of his creator and further the advancement of his studies of Islam.

Translations2u is a UK based translation company specialising in legal translation including matters involving Sharia law.
Thursday 19 December 2013
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Identifying a Brit #1


The first of a mini-series offering a light-hearted take on some facts about the British

Fish and chips
Wherever the British travel, certainly in Europe at least, fellow Europeans will expect the British to expect deep fried fish and chips because that's "what they eat at home". Fish and chips, or fries as our cousins across the pond know them, is a popular meal but it is not everyone's choice nor is it what the British eat every day. That said, £2.7bn spent by consumers during 2011 on seafood meals consumed out of the home would tend to dispute that.1 It is no doubt that non-Brits think fish and chips is the norm for the British: there is barely a town or village throughout the British Isles where  a "chippy" (a term of endearment for our fish and chip shops rather than a carpenter) cannot be found. And visit any traditional British holiday resort and there will be a never-ending stream of such establishments with the associated smell of deep fried fish in batter. This olfactory delight doesn't just grace tourist resorts in Britain, however. Wherever the British go on package holidays to the Mediterranean, the supply of fish and chips will surely meet the demand for the said platter.

Full English
Continuing with the theme of fried food regularly encountered by Brits at home and abroad is the traditional Full English breakfast. Yet another dish commonly believed to kick-start every Briton's day and consisting of every fried item we can think of including fried vegetables, eggs, bread and meat2. But the cholesterol promoting dish does let itself down by allowing baked beans onto the plate. As far as the author is aware no-one has yet thought to heat them in oil. Don't fear being force fed a fried breakfast when you visit Britain, though, because fruit, muesli, granola and other
healthier options are also on the menu.

Translations2u is a UK based translation company specialising in legal translation and has a varied clientele from many business and industry sectors.

1 www.seafish.org
2 http://britishfood.about.com/od/faq/f/breakfast.htm

Wednesday 18 December 2013
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I've become an octopus



Here’s another light-hearted take on the differences between the European Spanish and Portuguese languages. It is all too easy for an individual who is familiar with one of these languages and goes on to learn the other to be caught out by numerous false friends.

Take the Spanish term polvo meaning dust. Other than referring quite simply to dust such as lleno de polvo, dusty, or limpiar el polvo or quitar el polvo, either of which can be used to describe the act of dusting furniture for instance, “dust” in Spanish is used in a variety of expressions which are normally quite negative ones.

Firstly, the expression hacer [algo] polvo, literally to make dust of something, means to ruin something, which when taken in a literal sense in fact makes considerable sense, to an English speaker at least.

In reference to persons, the similar expression hacer polvo a alguien means to wear a person out, to tire them. It can also mean to bring them down, in other words, to make them feel down, blue or depressed. Likewise, if you are holding a discussion, and more likely a heated discussion with someone, to make them polvo means you won the argument or came out on top after a good debate. In English we would often say that we wiped the floor with that person.

Yet another meaning of polvo when taken with the past participle of the verb hacer (to do or to make), namely, hecho polvo, means shattered, exceptionally tired, worn out. So, in the Spanish translation of this phrase, you would use the verb estar, to be, and say estoy hecho polvo. Of course, if you’re female, or the person you’re describing as exhausted is female, the correct form would be estoy hecha polvo.

This Spanish expression, estar hecho(a) polvo, can also be used to describe things. If you describe an object as hecho polvo, in English this would translate colloquially as the item being wrecked or falling to pieces, for instance. 

Turning to the Portuguese word polvo. To use this word in any similar construction in a direct Portuguese translation from English of any of the above expressions would surely cause no end of laughter or quite likely confusion to the average Portuguese speaker with no knowledge of Spanish and even less inclination to analyse the expression should he or she even have some knowledge of colloquial Spanish. This is because the word polvo in Portuguese purely and simply means octopus. And if you’re interested, the Spanish word for octopus is pulpo.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this little article. Share your expressions using the Spanish term polvo here with us or ask any questions about any of the English expressions or others posted on here.

Translations2u is a European translations provider and legal translation expert.
Monday 16 December 2013
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Understanding Scottish pronunciation

The many Scottish accents commonly heard today are as confusing to the untrained ear as they are numerous. Scottish English is a combination of Scots and regional slang and causes no end of perplexity when non-British nationals are faced with many a travelling Scot. Here is a pointer to help you follow the conversation.

When you hear the word "diznay", the speaker is not making reference to Walt Disney, any of the Disney family, its franchise or films, it is simply a way to shorten the English "does not" in a Scottish manner. "Does not" is shortened in English to "doesn't" and is used both formally and informally depending on the context and speaker.

The first part of this, diz, relates of course to the English does and is purely a Scottish pronunciation of the English. The second part, nay, could derive from the archaic word "nay" meaning "no". "Nay", in its noun form, also means a denial or refusal or even a negative vote or voter. Nay has its origin from around 1125–75 believed to derive from a contraction of Old Norse "ne" meaning not combined with "ei" meaning ever.

Whether this Scottish variant of the English contraction "doesn't" indeed has such a connection or whether it is merely a coincidence of Scottish pronunciation its use and spelling are clearly very close. If you have any references to confirm or refute this, do share them here with Translations2u!
Sunday 15 December 2013
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Some differences between Portuguese and English



The purpose of this small article is to cover a few of the aspects that distinguish Portuguese and English.

Distinction 1: Sentence Length

One of the challenges of Portuguese to English translation, and particularly English to Portuguese, is the fact that Portuguese sentences are substantially longer, making translation tricky in formats like small display buttons for apps and software, headlines, articles requiring a limited amount of words and so on.
Always be mindful that if you have an English article translated, the Portuguese version will be bigger.

Distinction 2: Headers and their format

Headers are another matter. Do you see the header there at “Distinction 1”? The first words are capitalized. If the headline were translated from English to Portuguese it would be more like this header at “Distinction 2” since in Portuguese only the first word is capitalized.

Distinction 3: What Time is it?

Anyone with foreign language knowledge will often be aware that the time format between languages isn’t always the same, and this is no different when it comes to transferring it between Portuguese and English. So, in English we’d say – for example – 8 pm, while in Portuguese we always refer to 20:00.

Portuguese always uses the 24 hour clock – just as with the military, something else to bear in mind.

Distinction 4: That’s a Negative

A further obvious difference between English and Portuguese is the double negative. You see, Portuguese speakers use double negatives.

For instance, “I don’t know nothing” might sound pretty strange in English as well as meaning the opposite to what  is no doubt intended, but it is one way to say that you’re clueless in Portuguese, so be careful not to misunderstand what is being said or written in Portuguese.

Translations2u hopes you found this article interesting. Stay tuned for more handy articles!
Thursday 12 December 2013
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To have or not to have....



There are numerous errors an English learner of Spanish or vice versa can make when they first attempt to communicate verbally or orally in the other language. This article provides a couple of examples of how the Spanish and English languages vary.

Spanish sometimes uses a completely different verb to that used in English to express certain feelings. For instance, where English would use the verb “to be” plus an adjective to express feeling hunger, thirst, sleepiness and so on, Spanish uses the verb “to have” plus a noun. So, “I am hungry” is “Tengo hambre”, literally, “I have hunger”. “I am thirsty” is then “Tengo sed”, literally, “I have thirst”. Finally, “I am sleepy/tired” is “Tengo sueño”, literally, “I have sleep”. Bear in mind, however, that “sueño” also means a dream and has a separate verb form. For example, “un sueño hecho realidad” translates as “a dream come true”. 

In English, to express that we want or would like someone to do something or for something to be done, we quite simply say “I want/would like you to do…”. Spanish requires a slightly more complicated verb form, namely the subjunctive form of the verb which is a variation of the present tense endings of the relevant verb, although there are some exceptions to irregular verb forms. 

To demonstrate, the above phrase in Spanish would read “I want that you do…”, so, “I want you to speak with him today” will translate as “Quiero que hables con él hoy”. Note the distortion of the verb “hablar”, “to speak”. Normally, as “hablar” is an “-ar” verb, i.e. one that ends in “-ar” equivalent to “to speak” as opposed to I speak, you speak, he speaks, for example, the second person will end in “-as”, “hablas” (you speak). In effect, the verb ends in the ending of an “-er” or “-ir” verb when it takes the subjunctive form.

Hopefully, this enlightens the reader a little on a couple of aspects of the Spanish language compared to English. Should you have any questions on Spanish or wish to expand your vocabulary, feel free to contactTranslations2u directly or see the relevant gig on fiverr. 

Translations2u is a specialist in English to Spanish translation and has the right Spanish to English translator for your project.