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Google Translate is neither good nor bad, but there is certainly good and bad to it; it all depends on how you use it. As you know, everyone prodigally uses Google Translate nowadays, and that is why we decided to write this blog post about it. People use it not only on their private, daily […]
Unfortunately, bad translations are surprisingly common. You can find them almost everywhere. Just take a look around you: airport signs, food labels, product instructions, restaurant menus, guide books… the list goes on and on. This is why we decided to write this blog post and show you 5 examples of translations that went wrong. Most […]
Translation into Portuguese can raise many difficulties for any translator who is a non native speaker of Portuguese or even for native speakers who have been away from Portugal for a long time. Let’s look at some subtleties that could easily go unnoticed. The Portuguese word «embalagem», which means «packaging» in English, could easily be […]
Hello World! Have you heard the song with which Portugal is going to win the next Eurovision Song Contest? It was written by Luísa Sobral and sung by her brother, Salvador Sobral. Everyone is affected by its extraordinary melody, whether they understand the lyrics or not. But we want the whole world to be happy […]
Apart from being the author of the famous A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess was a linguist and a translator. He even invented a prehistoric language for the characters of a film. We found this video where he explains, with great sense of humour, the evolution of the English word “mouse” – admitting to the mystery that […]
Proofreading in English – Letrário’s team advice for writing compass points Lower case for “east”, “west”, “north”, “south”, except when part of a name: “North Korea”, “South Africa”, “West End”. Lower case for vaguer areas such as the American “north-east”, “north-west”, “south-east”, “south-west”. Also lower-case for the adjectives: “midwestern”, “western”, “southern”. The regions of Africa […]
Yes, it’s all true! But… it’s «bridges», not «brigdes». If a good translation is crucial, good proofreading is not less crucial… Especially when you are going to print it on an outdoor.
We found this astonishing Spanish verb («ningunear») in a newspaper recently when we were collecting linguistic data relevant to translation works. Generated from the «ninguno» pronoun, the «ninguenear» verb denotes the linguistic creativity of the Spaniards. It means that someone treats a person as though they were no one, belittling them, not taking them into […]
