Where translation has no limits

We’ve all seen mistranslations on menus. Maybe on the internet, maybe in real life.   One of my more recent discoveries was a deliciously redundant dish at a Spanish bar titled “anchovies with anchovies.” While it was amusing and ultimately tasty, it got me thinking.   Why are menu mistranslations such a common sight in Spain, a country with world-renowned gastronomy and a leader in international tourism?   Today we’re going to explore this question and try to find an answer to it.   Best Thing ...

Every job has ideal working conditions. A janitor in a school where the students and staff are very clean and respectful ... and no one misses the toilet bowl. A truck driver on a route with little traffic and lawful drivers, no one swerving in and out of lanes at 100mph. Or a chef in a restaurant without picky, entitled diners; in fact, they give their compliments to the chef. Take a second to picture what your ideal situation would be.   Now can you guess what the ideal conditions for translat...

Being bilingual is a wonderful thing. Studies show that it has numerous advantages. Everything from increasing certain cognitive functions to giving you a leg up in the professional world. Not to mention it gave us the fantastic Spanglish!   Although we’re a bit behind on learning languages in places like the U.S. and the U.K., the number of bilingual individuals is gradually increasing. Being language lovers, we think this is great! However, our friends, relatives, and acquaintances often downp...

Marketing translation is a topic that we already mentioned in an earlier article. But today we’re going to take a more in-depth look at it since we only scratched the surface last time. It's an interesting yet hard to define specialization, which is why we thought further exploration would be helpful for business and translators alike.    Specifically, we’re talking about the linguistic adaptation of campaigns, slogans, and advertisements of commercial interest that aim to entice viewers into hi...