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How’s your Anglophone reception?
Hollywood raises the bar on ethnic authenticity
Culture is a minefield. Tread carefully.
Five words that should be imported into English
The blogosphere across different hemispheres
What’s the meaning of green in Greenland?
Lost in Translation: Strange signs from abroad
When your translator is truly checked out…
Beware of Slippy: For Shanghai, Chinglish is no laughing matter
Lost in Translation: Verizon Wireless
How well do you know your target market?
Is Twitter ready to go global?
In India, Microsoft and Google go local in a big way
It’s Miller Time in North Korea
Global road warriors: learn to fit it all in one bag
In China: All atwitter about microblogging
Does Crowdsourcing have a Place in the Translation Industry?
The Era of Open Standards is here
Translation Tools Without Borders
Content Convergence: Come Together Write Now
Beijing’s Olympic Task: Serving Up Gold-Medal English
Five words that should be imported into English
By Prisma News
Category:
Director, designer and blogger Karin Fong has a thing for words. In a recent post, she wrote:
“I ‘collect’ words that aren’t translatable in English. Not just unusual words, but words that are don’t have an equivalent in English, for these show us where the holes are in our thought patterns.”
Many of us will have heard of schadenfreude, which roughly means taking pleasure in the misfortune of others. But have you heard of her other favorite words?
- Mokita
- Wabi sabi
- Gezellig
- Lagom
Fong even illustrates the words to help demonstrate their meaning. Read the full post to find out what these special words mean!
Juan Valdez is back
By Prisma News
Category:
Remember Juan Valdez? In the 1980s, as Colombia sought to overturn Brazil’s dominance in the world coffee markets, Juan (and his horse) was a regular fixture on North American television. He’d materialize magically (creepily, some might say) in bedrooms, kitchen, even in train stations, offering Colombian coffee to bleary-eyed suburbanites.
These days, Sr. Valdez is the figurehead for a burgeoning chain of Colombian coffee shops created by Colombia’s National Federation of Coffee Growers. In a country that hasn’t yet seen a Starbucks, Juan Valdez Café is practically everywhere. Bogotá alone has some 60 Juan Valdez locations. Ecuador, Spain and Chile have nearly 30 stores between them.
Will Juan and his trusty steed retake North America? With only 8 Juan Valdez stores established on the East Coast, Starbucks probably needn’t worry. But who knows? Someday we could find ourselves ordering our morning coffee in “Alto,” “Grande” and “Grandazo” sizes.
Objets ‘d Internet
By Prisma News
Category:
- Western brands with distinctly Eastern flavors Crystal and Bryan are living in Singapore and recently discovered that when it comes to snack food, Singaporean tastes lean toward seafood. Exhibit A: the iconic Pringles chips, which come in flavors like Seaweed, Soft-shell crab and Grilled Shrimp. Bonus: Wikepedia entry on the many international flavors of Lay’s chips.
- True globalization What is globalization? It’s the Colombian office of an Indian consulting firm being staffed with Uruguayans who report to a boss in Argentina. So says this Slate article about this instance of so-called “south-south” trade, or trade between developing countries.
- Cool Japan” no longer cuts it Roland Kelts, author of “Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S.” wonders if Japan’s cool factor, typified by anime, manga, bleeding-edge mobile phones and the like, isn’t on the wane.
- Guest-Teaching Chinese, and Learning America As part of a Chinese-government sponsored exchange program, Zheng Yue came to Oklahoma to teach Chinese. What she discovered about the culture and habits of American high school students was a shocker.
- The Netherlands, on a first-name basis If you think the Netherlands is a monolithic cultural entity, think again. A study of some 4.2 million children born between 1983 and 2007 found distinct patterns in how parents name their children – patterns that reflect underlying ethnic, religious and cultural differences.