What makes you feel truly American? A study was conducted last year by the Pew Research Center, which found that most people in the U.S. believe that in order to be considered American, it was very important that people spoke English. The study was conducted over different groups of people distributed by age, race, religious […]
In an interesting article published in Tufts Magazine, author Colin Woodward caught people’s attention when he described what he sees as new nations within the United States of America. He expressed that “There’s never been an America, but rather several Americas—each a distinct nation.”1
The United States and England seem to have always been (at least since the USA became a country) trying to establish supremacy over both their own continents and ostensibly, the world. The Brits dominated for quite a while, conquering new lands both in the Americas and Africa, (and Oceania, the West Indies, Southeast Asia, the Middle […]
As is well known, there are many differences between British and American English, especially when it comes to spelling. However, few people know why this is the case. Did these differences happen gradually, as part of a natural process due to both varieties being separated? Or are they due to a deliberate change? The American […]
Canada is the second largest country in the world. So depending on which part of Canada you’re visiting, you may encounter different accents, slang, and vocabulary. Furthermore, there are 2 official languages, English and French, but for this post I would like to focus on Canadian English. Canadian English is an interesting blend of British […]
In linguistics, code-switching refers to the simultaneous and syntactically and phonologically appropriate use of more than one language. It is fairly common to hear multilingual people use elements of the different languages that they speak when conversing with others that speak the same languages. This mix may occur almost unconsciously in people who have a […]
As we discussed in a previous post on the “Language of the People“, legal language has evolved to be better understood by one group of people: average citizens. Today I would like to explain the origin of this movement that has taken hold in Spain and has been introduced in Mexico. This process of modernization […]
Recently I had to work on a long translation of a legal document, which is not the field I work with most often. I found myself once again working very hard on conforming to the standards and practices of “legal writing” in English. The concept is quite vague, since many options exist for word choice, […]
The Economist is the well-known and acclaimed magazine newspaper(!) about…well, economics…that is published in the UK. One of its proudest principles is how it likes to take stands on issues and argue in favor of or against topics. It is read by important, influential, and intelligent people throughout the world. So as I was thumbing […]