Do you know your le from your la, or your der from your das? The idea of grammatical gender has proved something of a curse for foreign language learners in the UK for many generations. From an English perspective, the idea of referring to a chair as male or female seems pretty ludicrous. Surely it’s…
It’s a commonly repeated mantra that native English speakers don’t need to bother with other languages – because everyone already speaks ours. Anyone who knows anything about language will tell you exactly how misleading that saying is. But sadly it seems that the false mantra is pervasive in our national psyche. Some estimates put the…
It may surprise you to hear that those of us working in translation services are actually more laid back and flexible about the meanings of words and grammar than our reputation gives us credit for. What we mean is, we understand that language is an organic phenomenon – a naturally evolving system of changing words…
The Chinese-speaking market amounts to more than a billion people on the mainland alone, so it’s unsurprising that businesses from around the world often require Chinese translation. As an international translation agency we’re regularly asked about translation into Mandarin and Cantonese, but the differences between the two and their relation to the written word may…
Edinburgh has officially become Scotland’s first city to be ‘China ready’ after launching its brand new, fully translated ‘Welcome to Edinburgh’ Guide in Chinese. Strengthening the position of Scotland’s capital as the UK’s most visited city outside London for Chinese tourists, the guide will initially have a print run of 100,000 distributed around the city…
They say time flies when you’re having fun, so maybe 2017 isn’t all that bad? In the blink of an eye we’re already approaching the half way mark, with a General Election on the horizon and the ever-present Brexit negotiations continuing to dominate the business headlines. For many, the resulting high levels of uncertainty have…
Interpreting and translation services are both disciplines that require impeccable linguistic skills, seemingly separated by nothing but their method of delivery – interpreters translate oral language, while translators work with the written word. And yet you rarely find someone who is an expert in both. Why is this? What’s the central difference between translating and…
We may be sticklers for high quality translation, but here at Bubbles we can’t resist a few translation fails too. This time we’ve gone for a summertime twist to get us all in the holiday mood. 1.There’s nothing like a summertime stroll through the park, just be careful where you empty your dog 2. Summer…
Chinese tourists have long been a major global spending force, but recent figures have revealed just how large the market really is. According to a report from Visa, China’s tourist spending is estimated to have reached $137 billion in 2015 alone; a figure that’s predicted to rise by 87 per cent in the next decade.…
Every year the United Nations takes the time to celebrate each of its six working languages, and on 23rd April it will once again be the chance for the English language to receive recognition.