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My family spent Christmas in Covid quarantine, with my husband receiving an unwanted early gift in the form of a positive test result late on Christmas Eve. It was time to raid the kids’ toy cupboard for games and jigsaws to keep us entertained, and first to emerge was every…

I always have an eye out for linguistic curiosities that might entertain readers of this blog, so this week I bring you a round-up of talking parrot news! The first story that caught my eye was about Nigel, an African Grey parrot, who spoke with a British accent mimicking his…

  As a native English speaker, I have always been fascinated by the distinction between formal and informal pronouns made in other languages. The social niceties woven into the simplest form of address is one of the most obvious differences between English and other European languages (along with gendered nouns,…

  Around this time each year, I generally review the various “Word of the Year” nominations from dictionaries and media outlets around the world. If language use captures the zeitgeist, it seems fitting that 2020 is the year we broke “Word of the year”. Oxford English Dictionary admitted defeat in…

Translating idioms is one of the hardest challenges a translator will face. Often there is no direct equivalent in the target language, or you may find the most obvious alternative simply does not work in the relevant context. I wrote previously in this blog about the care needed when deploying…

The world is awash with obscure celebratory days to mark pretty much anything you can think of, and languages are no exception. There’s the European Day of Languages on 26th September, originally conjured up in 2001 by the European Union and the Council of Europe. Specific languages often have their…

Having mulled over the review process in a previous blog, this week I take a tour through some classic linguistic features that are red flags to any reviewer of German to English texts. Every language has its own formulaic features, expressions that often have no literal meaning but may be…

Reviewing translation work is an essential part of the QA process to ensure no errors have slipped through and the text is of a sufficiently high quality to deliver to the client. It’s tricky work for a freelancer to take on because when you agree to a review assignment you…

I cannot pretend to be a cricket aficionado but, many years ago, on returning from a spell living in Germany, I found myself obsessed with the radio commentary. It seemed to supply a quintessential British ingredient that had been missing during my time abroad. Undoubtedly, much of that pleasure was…

I was recently summoned to stand on the pavement and inspect the newly installed roof-mounted bike rack on our car as my partner took it on a test drive round the block. Unfortunately, we had not worked out a signalling system for what I would do to communicate any kind…