For translations in the medical field, including for medications, it is especially important to avoid all errors in comprehension, change or suppression of information, since in this case, as opposed to other cases where the consequences are “merely” monetary, here the correct or incorrect translation of a particular word or even getting a dosage wrong [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Spanish’
Medical Translations: Drugs and Medications
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010Time for Tricky Tongue Twisters
Thursday, July 15th, 2010Tongue twisters, those mystifying turns of phrase with repeated phonemes, alliteration or rhyme which present difficulty in pronunciation, are a universal phenomenon. They are a part of our experience growing up as English speakers and they exist in similar forms for children in other parts of the world. Who doesn’t want to show off and [...]
Supply and Demand in Translation
Friday, July 2nd, 2010Up to now we have seen different ways or options for determining the total cost of a translation, but now I would like to draw attention to the question of why some rates are higher when considering not only the language pair in question, but also the country in which the translation project will be [...]
The World Cup: Much More Than A Championship
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010The FIFA World Cup is one of the great spectacles known to man. It carries more weight for some people than for others, but it is a part of everyone’s life. It is a common topic of conversation, even for those who are not normally soccer fans, even in countries whose teams are not participating [...]
Subtitles for Movies and Television Shows
Thursday, June 17th, 2010These days, subtitles are available for all forms of entertainment: in the movies, on television, and even at the opera. People from completely different cultures who speak different languages are often interested in the same subjects. For example, the blockbusters made in Hollywood often debut on the same day throughout the world and the audience [...]
Languages at the FIFA World Cup
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010As I write this, the second week of the 2010 World Cup is in full swing in South Africa. The euphoria generated by the event can be felt throughout the entire world. Most significant are the numerous preparations and needs that arise in the host country, which include matters of language and communication, not only [...]
Interculturality in the Medical Field
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010Since societies are becoming increasingly more plural, it is complicated and even dangerous to get sick in a foreign country, especially in one with a language you cannot communicate in. One of the clearest examples of this type of multicultural societies is, obviously, the United States, which is home to people from nearly every country [...]
Specialized Translation Agencies
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009I recently read an article about the new national certification given to medical interpreters of Spanish in the United States. I think this is actually quite important, especially for the people who are receiving medical services. Unfortunately, these people have a very low level of education. In addition, they are looking to include languages besides [...]
Language Map of Europe
Friday, October 23rd, 2009The map of Europe posted above is an excellent example of why localization is so important. Translators and companies who are looking for translations should not use this as a hard-and-fast, exact representation of where the dividing lines are drawn for the languages of Europe. Instead, take a moment to consider what it is really [...]
Machismo in Spanish Writing?
Friday, September 25th, 2009I frequently notice in translations from English into Spanish that the translator attempts to make explicit an author’s reference to both sexes with the following type of construction: Todos los/as niños/as deberán entregar esta documentación. The idea is that in this way, “las niñas” (the girls) aren’t left out of the picture. However, according to [...]
Triphthongs in Spanish
Monday, September 21st, 2009A triphthong is a sequence of three vowels making up one syllable. Some examples in Spanish would be: a – pre – ciáis, co – piéis, buey. For a triphthong to exist, two closed atonic vowels (“i” or “u”) and, between them, an open vowel (“a”, “e”, or “o”): anunciáis, guau, miau, confiéis. Sequences of [...]
Pronouncing “c” and “z” in Spanish
Friday, September 11th, 2009“Seseo” consists of pronouncing the letters “c” (before “e” and “i”) and “z” with the sound normally associated with the letter “s”. If someone speaks with seseo, they would say “serésa” for “cereza” (cherry), “sierto” for “cierto” (true), and “sapáto” for “zapato” (shoe). Seseo is used generally throughout Latin America and in the Caray Islands [...]
Writing Years in Spanish
Friday, September 4th, 2009Continuing on the topic of writing dates in Spanish correctly, regarding the use of the article “el” (which includes the contraction “del“) before the expression of years, these are the proper protocols: a) For years between 1 and 1100, it is common to use the article, at least in spoken Spanish: Los árabes invadieron la [...]
Use of Prepositions to Write Dates in Spanish
Friday, August 28th, 2009When writing dates in Spanish, you will use the prepositions “a“, “en” and “de“. The preposition “a” is put before the day, both when talking about the day of the week and of the month, when it introduces a complement to the verb “estar“: Estamos A lunes (in answer to the question ¿A qué (día) [...]
Language, History, and Politics
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009When is a language really a language, and not just a set of dialects? That is a difficult question to answer, and the Spanish language is a perfect case in point. Though most people in non-Spanish speaking cultures are unaware of it, this Romance language has historically been plagued by infighting and antagonisms which arose [...]
Expressing Dates in Spanish
Friday, August 14th, 2009As established in the Real Academia Española, Spanish-speaking countries use, generally, the ascending order when they write out dates, i.e. day, month, year, with no commas separating any information: 31 de diciembre de 1992. Between the day and the month, as well as between the month and the year, the preposition “de” is used. For [...]
