In the Roman Empire, spoken language (vulgar Latin) differed from written language (literary Latin). Romance languages derive from vulgar Latin, the spoken variety. The language that today we know as Italian is the one that has remained closest to the original Latin base, while other Romance languages have had external influences: French has been affected [...]
Archive for March, 2009
Italian, the Successor of Latin
Friday, March 27th, 2009Colorful Language: A Synesthete’s World
Friday, March 27th, 2009Synesthesia, a peculiar neurological phenomenon whereby the stimulus of one sensory or cognitive pathway automatically and involuntarily cross-activates another sensory or cognitive pathway, is an incredibly interesting and intriguing topic which will be consuming the energies of many a researcher for the foreseeable future, and surely beyond. There are many variations of synesthesia, with grapheme [...]
Subject Verb Object
Friday, March 27th, 2009Both English and Spanish follow the S-V-O (subject – verb – object) order, though each to a different degree. In contemporary English, this scheme is preferred by the majority of speakers and writers. In Spanish, it is a basic order that the language often moves away from as a result of style guidelines and individual [...]
The Advantages of Speaking the Same Language
Monday, March 23rd, 2009We welcome Bryant to the team, who will join Scott on our English blog. Continuing with the subject of languages, today we will analyze German, which has a strong presence in the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico, all of which have received successive waves of German immigrants over the last 200 years. Currently, [...]
Legal Translations
Monday, March 23rd, 2009The following are the most important aspects of legal translations: The might contain the ambiguities that arise from terms, concepts, or institutions that do not coincide between the legal systems of the source and target languages. In order to properly complete the translation, the translator must use a reliable manual or dictionary that clearly defines [...]
Endangered Languages
Friday, March 20th, 2009Some of the casualties of globalization and rampant cultural hegemony that has defined the world have been regional languages, many of which were not written down and survived for generations upon generations via oral transmission. Many of these languages have already been lost to the world, but there are many others that are classified as [...]
History of English Lesson
Friday, March 13th, 2009How I love the history and development of languages! It is a never-ending labyrinth of discovery and surprises, all reflecting the wonderful creative nature of human beings. Recently I found the BBC article on the oldest words in English, which used the study performed by researchers at Reading University as its basis. While I enjoyed [...]
Different Types of Calque
Friday, March 13th, 2009Paronymous calque or loan word: is the result of an incorrect correspondence between two words that have similar forms or etymologies but that have evolved differently in their respective languages to the point that they now have different meanings (semantic transfer). At times it happens because, between two words etymologically related in English, but with [...]
What is a calque?
Friday, March 6th, 2009It is a class of loan in which phrase is borrowed from another language, but each of the elements of the phrase are translated. This type of loan is known as a “calque”. It involves respecting the syntactical structures of the target language (week-end, “fin de semana”). There is also “structure calque” in which the [...]
Learning Languages Is Respecting Others
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009Economic globalization implies a tendency towards homogeneity and uniformity. In this sense, globalization goes hand in hand with the English language. Once, the French language had its golden era with territorial conquest and an aura of enlightenment, diplomacy and law. Today, across the world, 264.1 million people speak/study French, according to the Ministry of Foreign [...]
