You could say that every occupation has its own language– its own shorthand, or jargon. The business world is no exception. But now, Forbes is stepping in, calling for “a stop to the nonsense.” He’s hoping they’re not beating around the bush. Courtesy: thinkpanama Jargon-flourishing business people create a mysterious veil around themselves, hiding behind the […]
It’s the heart of the winter, and around this time of year those of us in the Northern Hemisphere often entertain the idea of skipping town for a few days or weeks in favor of a warmer locale. If you’re one of the lucky ones who gets to take a break from life and travel […]
We talk a lot about… well, talking. But there’s one language everyone speaks, that you can’t slip into or out of. Body language. What’s this say to you? Here are some simple tips from RealSimple.com on how to read the faces around you. Blinking– The normal blink rate is six to eight times a minute, […]
For a long time, the idea that language might shape thought was considered at best untestable and more often simply wrong. Research in my labs at Stanford University and at MIT has helped reopen this question. We have collected data around the world: from China, Greece, Chile, Indonesia, Russia, and Aboriginal Australia. What we have […]
Thomas Johnston is a jack of all trades at Affordable Language Services. As Interpreting Operations Manager, Thomas is the guy in charge of the day to day operations in the interpreting department. He actively oversees the handling of over 1100 interpreter requests per month for over 120 languages, from a pool of over 500 local […]
When learning a new language, speakers often experience a series of somewhat comical mishaps. This is especially common when it comes to jokes. What is funny in one culture may not be in another, or the gag may just not translate well. One example is the traditional American “Knock, knock” joke. Foreground Dance (based out […]
Web developers are coming up with new tools to help Twitterers make the most of their 140 character limit. Thsrs (the shortened version of thesaurus) takes a long word you want to use, and searches for shorter synonyms. How cool! If that doesn’t help you shop it down, 140it certainly will. Granted, it […]
A statement issued by the Ohio Supreme Court regarding legal interpreters. “Guidelines issued this week [August 23, 2010] by the U.S. Department of Justice show that efforts by the Supreme Court of Ohio are exceeding national standards in breaking down language barriers in the courtroom. Ten years ago, President Clinton signed an Executive Order that […]
At Affordable Language Services, we like to share our knowledge of culture and language with the community. Gary Elfers, our Executive Director, headed to the Batavia Rotary Club to speak last week. The members enjoyed it so much, they even blogged about it! Gary explained the difference between translation and interpretation, a bilingual speaker and […]
Online lingo is seeping into daily conversation as we talk about “googling” or “friending.” A recent article in Intelligent Life magazine looks at the increasingly common phenomenon of creating verbs from nouns. (The fancy term is “denominalisation,” if you were interested.) In “You’ve Been Verbed,” writer Anthony Gardner reasons one force driving this change is […]