Category: Languages

Unveiling the Key Differences Between Brazilian and European Portuguese

About 300 million people around the world speak Portuguese, a language that originated in a relatively small southwestern European country. The population of Portugal today is only just over 10 million, greatly exceeded by the 200 million Portuguese speakers in Brazil as well as another 60 million more in parts of Africa and the Portuguese-speaking diaspora in many other countries.

Naturally, just as Portuguese itself changed from its original Latin origins, so has the Portuguese of Portugal’s many old colonies, isolated from the mother country over hundreds of years and influenced by indigenous and other languages.

The key differences between Brazilian and European Portuguese


Just like many other European colonial countries, Portugal took its language with it as well as its religion and culture to other parts of the world it was able to colonize. Portuguese became the official language used in Brazil in South America as it did in Mozambique and Angola, Cape Verde, and Guinea Bissau in Africa. 

Portugal lost colonial possession of its Brazilian colony early on but ruled its African colonies until after the Second World War in the twentieth century. That might explain much of the differences between European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese, as Brazilians have had longer to experience their predominant national language evolve in its own way. 

Today, Portuguese from European Portugal can still easily communicate with Brazilians in Portuguese, just as Americans can communicate easily with their British cousins in English, but there are some substantial differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.

Pronunciation:

Brazilians who speak Portuguese can recognize the Portuguese of European Portugal and vice versa. Brazilians speak with a more musical and broader tone, while in Portugal, the language is flatter, more guttural, and harsher in pronunciation. In Portugal, the final ‘s’ of many words are actually pronounced ‘sh’, while this is not the case in Brazil. The letter ‘t’ in Brazil is pronounced ‘ch’, while it remains ‘t’ in Portugal.

Vocabulary

The differences between European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese are not huge. There may be times when speakers of Portuguese from Portugal and Brazil may stop and ask the person they are speaking to, to explain what they mean when they use a certain expression or word.  Interestingly, each of the two countries has often absorbed and altered words from other languages, but in different ways. For example, the Brazilian ‘sueter’ has been borrowed from the American ‘sweater’, while the same garment in Portugal is called a ‘pulover’, taken from the English ‘pullover’. Similarly, the Brazilian ‘tren’ and ‘onibus’ are distinct from the Portuguese ‘comboio’ and ‘autocarro’. The Brazilian ‘tren’ is similar to the English ‘train’, while the Portuguese ‘autocarro’ is more like the equivalent in Spanish for ‘bus’.

Note that like many languages that have been modified and used by many millions of speakers, there are also regional variations in both Brazil and Portugal itself. Brazil, in particular, has absorbed words from its many hundreds of indigenous languages as well as Spanish, the language by which it is surrounded.

Grammar

Linguists say that the differences between standard Brazilian Portuguese and standard European Portuguese are not great enough for them to be called distinct dialects, let alone different languages. Basically, the grammar used in both countries is more or less identical. What small differences there are presently no difficulties in communication between Brazilians and Portuguese from Europe. 

Cultural Nuances:

Languages never stay the same. They are dynamic phenomena. Isolation is the main reason why languages evolve and the longer they are isolated, the more they are likely to change and evolve in their own way. The Portuguese speakers of Brazil have had five hundred years of separation from Portugal to absorb the languages of the indigenous peoples who lived in that part of South America for many thousands of years before the Portuguese conquest. Note that the Portuguese of Mozambique and Angola in southern Africa are far less different from standard European Portuguese because the Portuguese retained colonial control of these two African countries until the 1970s.

Conclusion:

It is important when translating into or from Portuguese that you use translators who are able to translate into or from the relevant Portuguese variant, or you may risk some amount of confusion or disinterest.

 

The Role of Korean Translators in Ensuring Effective Global Business Communication

South Korea is a modern, affluent, industrialized society. There is a huge Korean market with massive potential for continued growth in trade with the outside world. The major obstacle for Korean and foreign businesses is the fact that Koreans speak Korean, a language that is hard for non-Koreans to learn and understand, making effective business communication a significant hurdle. Korean is a unique language, not spoken by any other nation, and this means that Korean translators are extremely important in facilitating business communication.

There are around 46 million Korean speakers in South Korea and another 23 million in North Korea, as well as communities of Korean expatriate migrants who have made a home around the world. Most non-Koreans are familiar with well-known Korean brands, like Samsung, Kia, and Hyundai as well as Korean cultural icons, like K-Pop and K-dramas. However, there are many more Korean-based industries and businesses that are less well-known. This is the market for Korean translators to penetrate to allow the free flow of information and communication.

The unique challenges of Korean language translation for business communication

Korean as a language has no real linguistic analogs. Modern Korean has its origins in Manchuria as far as can be established. Chinese characters, hanja, were introduced in early Korean history but then replaced by their own type of written character called hangul.

There still exist regional variations in the Korean language, and there is a distinct regional difference, for example, between the Koreans of North Korea and South Korea. 

These dialect differences and associated regional colloquialisms are less important for most business translations as standard Korean would be used by translators, but marketing translation does involve what is called localization techniques. Localization techniques are an extension of translation in that local nuances in language use are taken into consideration. 

The fact that Korean is such a unique language presents challenges in business communication with just about every other language group, but it also presents opportunities for those who can offer Korean translation services.

The benefits of working with professional Korean translators

It is always advisable for businesses wishing to translate material into Korean or from Korean to engage professional Korean translators. The temptation to use Korean speakers who have no training in translation techniques should be avoided as should the use of amateur internet-based translation apps and software. 

The importance of localization techniques for some business needs in translation has already been mentioned. Professional Korean translators with experience in localization techniques are the obvious first choice when it comes to this type of business translation to ensure it is effective. 

Most professional translators end up specializing in a particular field of translation, such as legal, scientific, technical, business, or literary translation and this is true for the Korean translation industry as well. Specialization ensures that the specific terminology used in that field is learned, so that is why it is important to be careful when choosing the best professional Korean translators to make sure that you have chosen translators who are familiar with the sort of business needs in translation that you have. 

As far as Internet translation technology is concerned, it is doubly important that this is not used in serious business communication with Korean firms. Most Korean firms and government officials would probably be offended if this sort of technology was used as a cheap substitute for using genuine professional Korean translators, as the technology has not yet advanced to become as accurate as that of human translators. In fact, an inaccurate or poor translation could lead to miscommunication, delays, delayed contracts, and lost opportunities. 

Conclusion

Modern Korea, or more specifically South Korea, is already a highly important market for businesses worldwide. Because Korean as a language is not easily learned and is relatively little spoken outside Korea, there is an increasing demand for professional Korean translators who have particular expertise in business translation.

 

What are the Best Languages to Learn for Your Career?

Learning a second language varies from something which is absolutely essential (and often second nature, something that seems as straightforward as learning one’s own native, or parental, language) to something which is totally unimportant, or just a nice-to-have.

In many parts of the world, people just have to learn more than one language, because the country they live in is officially multilingual, or it is impractical to survive or get ahead without learning at least one more language. Take Switzerland, where there are three (four with Romansch) official languages, or Malaysia, where three main ethnic groups speak totally different languages, and another, English, is widely used as well.

This isn’t the case in many other countries where the official language still reigns supreme. Take Australia, for example, where there are few incentives to learn any other language other than English, and LOTE (language other than English) is not a popular school subject. And yet, tens of thousands of Australians opt to learn another language. Many indigenous Australians who grow up speaking their own indigenous language first or migrant Australians who do the same, must learn English just to survive in modern Australia.

Many more people, worldwide, learn another language other than their native language to enhance their careers. But if there is a choice of languages to learn, and you are unsure which language would be the most useful, what do the statistics tell us about the most useful languages to learn for a career? Here is a list of the most popular languages in 2023.

The most popular languages to learn to help enhance one’s career (in alphabetical order)

  • English,
  • French,
  • German,
  • Italian, 
  • Japanese,
  • Mandarin Chinese,
  • Spanish.

How a second language could benefit your career

Being fluent in another language can assist you in building useful relationships with people from many other cultures both in the workplace and elsewhere The most suitable language that you should learn to enhance your career is one that will aid you in increasing your networks, forging enduring connections that will open up new doors for you both personally and professionally.

Obviously, you can’t just choose a language at random if thinking that doing so could improve your job prospects or enhance your opportunity to enhance your career. For example, if you were a native English speaker in the United States, Spanish would be a better choice for many people as a second language, simply because of the number of Spanish speakers. Being able to speak both English and Spanish fluently gives you a huge advantage over monolingual speakers in many employment environments. 

Learning German in Europe is an obvious plus for many Europeans, as the German economy is one of the largest in the world. Being able to speak German fluently gives the bilingual speaker advantages in business negotiations and this would be recognized by employers.

The list is really one that documents a combination of the number of native speakers together with a measure of global importance. So, French makes a list and not Indonesian, because Indonesian is limited in geographical extent, whereas French is more of an international language. 

Conclusion

Learning another language is essential for some and an opportunity for others. If you think that learning another language could enhance your career prospects, you do have to think carefully about which language would best fit your circumstances.

Why Learn Thai? 5 Great Reasons Why It’s Worth Learning the Thai Language

The Thai language is the official language of Thailand and so used in everyday use by around 69 million people in this southeastern Asian nation. Thai is actually the most common dialect used by people in eastern and central Thailand. There are many different dialects of Thai as well as languages used by ethnic minorities such as the Karen, but Central Thai as a dialect has been chosen to be the only official language spoken in Thailand. Laotian is similar but not exactly the same as Thai. Thais and Laotians can more or less understand each other, while they also use the same written script.

Is Thai easy or difficult to learn? This depends on your age, what your own native language is, what your motive for learning Thai might be, and how many other tonal languages you have learned already. For most Europeans, Thai is not a particularly easy language to learn, partly because it is not an international language like English, French, or even Chinese. It uses a completely different written script from the Latin or Cyrillic script of European languages. It is also a tonal language, which means that the meaning of a word may depend on how it is pronounced and the emphasis of different syllables. Words that seem to look exactly the same could have totally different meanings when tones are taken into consideration!

Given the relatively limited geography of the Thai language and its difficulty in learning, one might wonder why people might make the effort to learn it at all. Here are five great reasons for learning Thai.

Reasons why it’s worth learning the Thai language

#1 It makes a visit to Thailand on holiday much more enjoyable

Thailand is one of the most visited South East Asian tourism hotspots. It has a huge variety of experiences, including typical beach locations, island getaways, snorkeling and diving destinations, and cultural attractions in the form of monasteries, temples, and other architectural wonders. It also has a busy nightlife with bars, casinos, and nightclubs in many urban centers. If you are only intending to Thailand once for a short visit, you will find that there is enough English spoken that you can get by without learning Thai, but if you are a repeat visitor (and many people are), learning more than just rudimentary Thai can be of great value. You will certainly find Thai people warm to your attempts to learn their language and you will enjoy your time in Thailand much more.

#2 It may enhance your business opportunities

Some people end up staying in Thailand and starting a business. Others visit the country regularly on business. These are both very good reasons why you might want to learn Thai. If you are intending starting up a business in Thailand, even if you have a Thai partner, you may find that learning Thai is a must.

#3 You may need it if you gain employment in Thailand

If you are looking for work in Thailand or are posted to a position in Thailand as a representative of a foreign organization or business, then this is certainly an opportunity for learning Thai. You may find that if you work in a Thai business or for a public employer, then understanding Thai might be an essential criterion for acceptance.

#4 Family and romantic purposes

 It is not uncommon for visitors to Thailand to form relationships with Thai citizens and end up getting married to them. Learning Thai makes it easy to communicate, especially if your new partner’s family doesn’t speak much English. If you do go on to have a family, whether you stay in Thailand, return to your own home country, or go somewhere else, it is important for your children to maintain a link with their heritage.

#5 To appreciate Thailand’s unique culture better

Thailand has a unique culture, which can only be appreciated to the full when you learn at least some Thai, especially the written form of the language which you will find everywhere.

Conclusion

Not everyone has the time or aptitude for learning Thai, so if you need to have anything translated into, or from, Thai, make sure you use a professional Thai English translator.

 

Languages of Romania : What Languages are Spoken in Romania?

Romania! Even those who have never been to Romania or Eastern Europe are familiar with the Dracula stories that were based in the Romanian region of Transylvania. Romania is a country steeped in history, wedged amongst the diverse countries of Eastern Europe, flanked on one side by the Black Sea and harboring the River Danube as it snakes from its mouth towards central Europe. The countries that surround Romania include Serbia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Ukraine. Romania is a member state of the European Union.

Like many European countries, Romania has experienced long periods of upheaval, and was conquered and ruled from time to time by outsiders, but is now independent. Linguistically, Romania is very diverse, with its inhabitants speaking many different languages, although a single language has been chosen as the country’s official language.

The official language of Romania

The official language of Romania is Romanian. It is spoken as a first language by 9 in 10 Romanians and by most other Romanians as a second language. Romanian is the language of government and education. Somewhat surprisingly, considering where Romania is located, Romanian is not a Slavic language like Hungarian or Bulgarian, but a Romance language. That puts it in the same family as Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Of these four European languages, it is probably most similar to Italian, in the same way as Spanish and Portuguese are similar. Because it shares so much with languages to the west of it, it also uses the same Latin script, rather than Cyrillic, which is used in neighboring Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Moldova.

Other languages that are spoken within Romania

Hungarian Language 

Hungarian is the second most widely spoken language in Romania with over a million speakers, or around 6% of the Romanian population. Most Hungarian-speaking Romanians live in Transylvania, although there are pockets of Hungarian speakers throughout the country. The reason for the prevalence of Hungarian is that parts of Romania were actually part of the Hungarian Empire for long periods of time, most recently just after the Second World War.

Romani Language

Romani is the language of the Romani people, whose ancestors arrived from Northern India many centuries ago and have spread throughout Romania and elsewhere in Europe in highly mobile extended family groups. Romani is not related linguistically to Slavic languages like Hungarian or Romance languages like Romanian. Around 240,000 Romani-speaking people live in Romania, approximately 1.1% of the whole population.

German Language

German is spoken by scattered communities throughout Romania, again because of historically important German-speaking empires that Romania was a part of. The number of German speakers has declined in the last 100 years, with probably only around 40,000 still speaking it as a first language.

Ukrainian and Russian languages 

Small populations of Ukrainian and Russian language users live within Romania, the Ukrainian speakers because of the proximity of Ukraine, and Russian speakers because of migrants fleeing religious persecution in Russia.

Other languages

Even smaller numbers of Romanians speak a variety of other languages for historical reasons, Turkish and Tatar being prominent. English has been gaining ground as a second or third language in Romania because of the opportunities the language has for international connections. French is another international language that has had an influence on Romanian culture and the arts.

Conclusion

Romania is a fascinating country with a diverse linguistic heritage. If you need to have documents translated from English into Romanian or Romanian into English or into or from one of its more minor languages, be sure to choose a professional translation agency to help you.

 

10 Important Facts About the Chinese Language

China has become one of the most important nations in the world, economically and politically. Its manufactured goods provide a large percentage of the world’s consumer needs and much of the developed world’s economy is reliant on a buoyant Chinese economy. For this reason, the Chinese language, called Mandarin, has become one of the most sought-after languages to learn outside of China.

Is Chinese the most difficult language to learn?

Whether you would find Chinese easy or difficult depends on a number of factors. Which language is your native language? If you already understand a tonal language, e.g. Thai or Vietnamese, then this would make learning Chinese easier. If you are used to interpreting characters, like Japanese, then you might also find learning the Chinese writing system easier than other people. If you are young and already understand more than your native language and are motivated to learn, then these factors all count in your favor. 

If none of these factors apply to you, then yes, you might very well find learning Chinese challenging!

10 facts about the Chinese language

#1. Chinese is one of the oldest languages still in use

The origin of the Chinese language, and the language family that it belongs to, is thought to be very old. Like other languages, its antiquity can only be confirmed whenever written records show up. As far as Chinese is concerned, the oldest record of writing that has been discovered that is recognizably Chinese is on bone inscriptions dated to 1230 B.C., which makes them about 3,450 years old. 

#2. Mandarin is the official language of China

Mandarin, more specifically the Beijing dialect of Mandarin, became the official language of what is now the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1930. It is also the official language of the Republic of China (Taiwan). It is also one of the official languages (Malay, English, and Tamil) of Singapore and one of 6 official languages used by the United Nations.

#3. Chinese is a major language in numerous Southeast Asian countries.

Chinese people have migrated to many other countries, not least to the nearby countries of South East Asia. This means that there are substantial minority populations of Chinese in just about every South East Asian country.

#4. What is special about Chinese characters and language?

There are a large number of Chinese dialects used in China despite the fact that everyone is nominally a Mandarin speaker. There is some disagreement about whether some of the major dialects are really all the same language as some of them are mutually unintelligible, despite their similarity in that they are tonal and analytic. 

The same Chinese characters are used across China, a system called simplified Chinese. However, the older characters are used elsewhere like in Taiwan, Singapore, Macao, and Malaysia. 

#5. Chinese writing systems

The main writing system used in China is very different from that of most other languages. It uses an enormous number of possible characters that are arranged vertically from top to bottom and from right to left. The most used writing system is called Standard Mandarin Chinese.

#6. The word “Mandarin” comes from Sanskrit.

The word ‘mandarin’ has an interesting history. In English, it is a word that is normally used for a type of tangerine. This comes from the Portuguese language. However, the word used to denote the official and most widely spoken in the Chinese language comes from the Malay ‘menteri’ meaning official or minister. This word itself was originally derived from Sanskrit.

#7. Family is valued greatly in China

Like most cultures, family ties are very strong in China. This has become even more so as the one-child policy that has been in force for a couple of decades in the PRC has meant that parents dote on their only son or daughter. The importance of family also means that wherever Chinese migrate to other parts of the world, they keep their ties with their family and that also means using the Chinese language.

Conclusion

Chinese is not just the most spoken language in the world but has become highly sought after as learning opens the gate towards understanding Chinese society and culture and facilitates communication with Chinese scientists, officials, and businesspeople.

Common Problems of English to Indonesian Translation

Introduction

Indonesian, or Bahasa Indonesia, is the official language of Indonesia, a nation of 250 million people. It is an Austronesian language based on the Malay language spoken in the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, and Borneo and remains not only the only official language in Indonesia but the lingua franca of a culturally and geographically diverse nation. There are said to be 652 local languages spoken across the Indonesian archipelago, so Bahasa Indonesia is the only language that enables all these people to able to communicate with each other.

Because Indonesian is so widely spoken by so many people, the need for good Indonesian to English and English to Indonesian translators is immense. Like many language translations, there are specific challenges that must be overcome for effective translation. Some of these common problems of translation of English to Bahasa and vice versa are outlined below.

Problems faced by a language translator when translating from English to Indonesian or Indonesian to English.

Language structure

The fact that Indonesian belongs to the Austronesian language family and English to the Germanic language family means that there are many inconsistencies between the two languages when it comes to a comparison of syntax, vocabulary, and sentence structure. 

One of the more obvious ones is that English often has many different words that convey different meanings whereas, in Indonesian, the context of the phrase is more important. Indonesian is also a language that is constantly growing. It has borrowed words from other languages such as Sanskrit, Arabic, and even Portuguese. English also has many borrowed words from many other languages. These language origins complicate the structure of each language

Sentence structure

There are many differences in sentence structure between Indonesian and English. Indonesian, for example, doesn’t recognize direct and indirect articles like “a” and ‘the”. Indonesian also doesn’t recognize gender in the same way as English. On the other hand, despite the seemingly simpler sentence structure of Indonesian, there are also complexities that are missing in English. For example, in English, there is only one type of “you”. This is not true for other European languages, even Germanic languages like German and Dutch which recognize 2 or more forms of “you,” their use is dependent on the relationship between people and social status. Indonesian takes that one step further and has many more forms of ‘you,” up to 20 according to linguists.

Idiomatic expressions

Idiomatic expressions are often difficult to translate between any language pair. The further apart the 2 languages are culturally, historically, and linguistically, the more challenging they are to understand or equate. This is particularly important for translators whose work consists of translating text that often has a lot of idiomatic expressions such as literary and marketing translation.

Compound words

Both English and Indonesian make use of compound words to create words with different meanings from the component words, but the compound words in Indonesian are rarely the same as in English.

Double or multiple-meaning words

Indonesian typically uses double words as a way of showing plurals, or accentuation of the meaning of a word, while English usually uses a suffix to show plurality. Both languages have words that may have multiple meanings and the translator often has to use the context of the word to know what the specific meaning is of these words.

Conclusion 

Bahasa Indonesia is a very significant language in one of the world’s largest nations by population. English to Indonesian and Indonesian to English translation is important to many businesses, individuals, and private and government agencies and organizations. It’s important to always use professional translators who have an in-depth knowledge of the subtleties of both the Indonesian and English languages.

Japanese vs Korean vs Chinese: Which is the Most Difficult Language to Learn?

Overview of the Japanese language 

Japanese is spoken by 130 million people. This makes it the 9th most spoken language by native speakers. The Japanese language is viewed as being one of the hardest languages for Americans to learn but this isn’t the case for Chinese speakers. Japanese is difficult for English speakers to learn because according to Richard Brecht, who is the Advanced Study of Language director at the University of Maryland, it is because Japanese has a complex writing system that doesn’t have much in common with the A-to-Z alphabet. Japanese consists of 3 different alphabets. The first is kanji, which is composed of around 15,000 characters. The 2nd is kata-kana, which is used to show emphasis, while the 3rd is hira-gana which is for grammar and spelling suffixes. 

Overview of the Korean language 

Korean is considered to be one of the world’s oldest languages which are still in use today. It has been suggested by some 19th Century Western scholars that the Korean language is connected to Ural-Altaic, Chinese, Japanese, Indo-European, Tibetan, Dravidian Ainu, and maybe other languages too. Linguistically, Korean isn’t related to Chinese but is similar to, but still distinct from the Japanese language. 

One of the hardest aspects of Korean is that it is a hierarchical language which means different words are used depending on who you are communicating with. In 2021, the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange estimated that 77 million people were in the process of learning Korean even though just 52 million people live in Korea.  

Overview of the Chinese language 

Today, 1.3 billion people use Chinese as their official language and as their mother tongue. It is the most commonly spoken language throughout the world. It is considered to be an isolated language and it is the language of the Han people, the most important of China’s ethnic groups. Modern Standardised Chinese is called Putonghua.

Japanese vs Korean vs Chinese

Which language has the most complicated writing system? 

When earning to read and write Japanese is likely to be more difficult than in Chinese because most Japanese characters which are called kanji) have at least 2 or more pronunciations, while most Chinese characters, called hanzi, just have one. When learning Japanese you are exposed to two syllabic scripts which are katakana and hiragana.

Which language has the most difficult grammar? 

Chinese is the easiest. Its grammar is very close to English. Korean doesn’t have a tone or a writing system and has a grammar that has little in common with English grammar. Japan has a difficult writing system with 3 scripts, small letters, and duplicated consonants and vowels but it doesn’t have any tones. Japanese grammar is probably the most complex. For example, the language has 13 different forms of all Japanese verbs, and when they are combined with the tense there are even more forms of verbs created.

Which language has the most difficult pronunciation?

Chinese is certainly the hardest to pronounce because of its tonal language, and word meanings which constantly vary depending on their tones, which doesn’t occur in Korean, Japanese, or English.

Which language is the easiest for English speakers to learn?

When considering writing, pronunciation, and grammar, the easiest writing system is Japanese, followed by Chinese, and thirdly Korean. The easiest language to pronounce is first, Chinese secondly is Korean while thirdly comes Japanese. Finally, for grammar Japanese ranks as the easiest, followed by Korean and finally Chinese.

Asian languages often stand apart from other languages as they just seem more foreign but Chinese, Korean, and Japanese are 3 languages that have a lot of connections so they are often compared with one another but in the end, they are quite different.

Business Language and How English is Used in Business Communication Today

What is business language?

Business language is the language used in business such as in commerce, international trade, insurance, and banking. It entails using specific vocabulary and grammatical structures and clearly communicating clearly and concisely is vital in business communication.

The clarity in business writing

When using a language in a business context, it is vital to be clear so that nothing is left to interpretation. If business writing lacks clarity time is wasted and money can be lost. 

Importance of English in business communication

Today despite the growth of other languages in global business communication English is still the most widespread language used for communication in almost all contexts. This all originates from early colonization when English was introduced to many continents and countries around the world in a comparatively short time frame. People in many countries are also eager to learn English as it gives them a window into the world. Being fluent in English helps a business executive based in France to initiate a business deal with a company in Australia as they can come together communicating in a global language. 

English is the official language for at least 70 countries.

Because English is so widely spoken estimates are that by 2022 at least 2 billion people are expected to speak English fluently. This basically means that about 25 percent of the world’s population will have the ability to freely communicate using a language that isn’t necessarily their native language. This allows a business that is based in an English-speaking country to quickly access markets in so many countries around the world because of the widespread fluency in the English language.

English has now become a global language for business all over the world

Because there are many people who can speak English fluently it allows for better communication between those who live in different countries. This supports great opportunities for negotiating and discussing the main features necessary for the success of the business relationship. Many international businesses have taken on English as the key language for working with, even when the origin of the business isn’t from a country whose main language is English. Some important examples of companies are Nokia which is Finnish and Airbus which is French. 

Because English is now the most common language used globally, this makes it automatically the most dominant language used by businesses throughout the world because it allows a company to attract the greatest number of possible customers. Also, being a fluent English speaker helps in negotiations with possible business partners, which is a great way to boost a business with English as the business language.

Top industries rely on English

Because so many industries produce products in countries that don’t necessarily have English as a national language there is a need for English translators to translate product information for the English-speaking market. This includes the following industries: 

  • training,
  • retail, 
  • PR,
  • pharmaceuticals, 
  • medical, 
  • marketing, 
  • advertising,
  • consumer, 
  • E-commerce,
  • education,
  • healthcare.

Hire professional services for any type of language translation, whether it is from English to another language or into English.

 

 

 

 

 

Benefits of Learning Spanish‍

It’s one of the best languages to learn for traveling!

In 2016, there were 437 million people who spoke Spanish around the world. That’s in fact 17 percent of the entire world’s population.  Also, Spanish is the official language or national language of twenty-one countries. In North and South America, 418 million people speak Spanish; in the EU 8% speak Spanish as a 1st language, while 7% say it as their 2nd language. From these facts, there cannot be a better reason to learn Spanish and you will be able to talk about a language that is spoken by some of the most beautiful countries in the world. 

Which countries speak Spanish?

These countries speak Spanish:

Spain (of course!) and:

  • Argentina;
  • Bolivia;
  • Chile;
  • Colombia;
  • Costa Rica;
  • Dominican Republic;
  • El Salvador;
  • Guatemala;
  • Mexico;
  • Nicaragua;
  • Panama;
  • Peru;
  • Puerto Rico;
  • Venezuela;

Advantages of learning Spanish

1. Learning Spanish offers employment opportunities

Because Spanish is one of the 6 official languages of the UN, and the 3rd most spoken language in media learning it offers many job opportunities. Spanish is also an important business language too. According to an article in The Economist, learning Spanish nets an extra $51,000 throughout life.

2. It will maintain a sharp mind

Alzheimer’s Today has revealed that speaking more than 1 language seems to help the brain being affected by the disease‍.

3. You will end up a better person

Learning Spanish doesn’t only boost your ability to concentrate, but it also helps you to better understand cultures that are the same as your own. 

4. An additional world of literature, art, and beauty will be available to you

A major benefit of learning Spanish is that you will be able to watch classic movies, such as Pan’s Labyrinth, in its original language which is much better than using subtitles.‍‍

5. It will not take you too long to learn

The American Council of Teaching Foreign Language (ACTFL), languages are divides languages into 2 classes which are:

Group I: French, Spanish, and Portuguese,

Group IV: Japanese, Arabic, Korean and Chinese.

Languages in Group I such as Spanish, take about 480 hours of learning to gain some level of advanced fluency. Spanish is generally regarded as an easy language to learn.‍

6. More opportunities to fall in love

A well-known benefit of learning Spanish is that you will open up your pool of potential partners because it gives you the chance to meet people you have never had the chance to communicate with before. 

Spanish as a business language

A business wanting to expand overseas will benefit greatly from learning Spanish as the language is spoken in not so many countries around the world. There are new markets for the growth in wealth that is taking place in central and South America so they can be no better time for expanding into these markets and learning Spanish at the same time.

Business travel is easier and more enjoyable

Once you have established business ties abroad the next step is to learn Spanish as this gives you the window of opportunity to communicate effectively with your trading partners in the Spanish-speaking countries you have aimed to target. As soon as you disembark from your plane communication becomes much easier than if you hadn’t bothered to learn Spanish. You can understand all the language you see written around you and communicate with not only your business partners but ordinary people too.

Improve your customer service skills

All businesses require contact with their customers and there is little doubt the best way to go about this is by communicating in the language of your customers. This is just another great reason for learning Spanish today. Your customers will praise you for speaking their language.

New professional connections

Once you have become competent in speaking Spanish doors will open for you and you will quickly get new professional connections.

Hire professional services for any type of language translation including Spanish after you have set up a branch of your business overseas.