Afrikaans in South Africa
Written by Isabel Harmse Afrikaans, with many similarities to Dutch, is a West Germanic language. This makes it easy to assume that its path from the Netherlands to becoming one…
The Origin of Xitsonga as language in South Africa
Written by Isabel Harmse For many South Africans, myself included, the importance of heritage month suddenly came back into the spotlight a couple of years ago (2005, to be exact)…
Hangeul: an alphabet for the Korean people
The invention of the Korean alphabet, known as Hangeul (in South Korea) or Chosun-gul (North Korea), is a source of pride for many Koreans. In fact, in 2013, after years…
SPANISH IN THE AMERICAN MARKET
With more than 41 million speakers in the United States of America, Spanish is by far the most spoken non-English language today. It is also the fastest-growing and most widely…
Four most popular words of 2021
The words that trended in 2021 tell a story of the most significant moments and phenomena of the year. It is interesting how many of these now common words were…
Chinese, Mandarin or Cantonese – what are the differences?
China’s economy has grown rapidly over the last few years with many companies making the Country of the Dragon their focus for marketing and selling of products. If you are…
Translate to touch the heart of your consumers
Last week we mentioned that the online market is worth approximately US$45 trillion. Understanding how one could partake in this one needs to understand consumers’ behavior. In a report from…
What are the top 5 African languages to translate into?
According to a recent UN economic report 10 of the world’s 15 fastest-growing economies are based in Africa. Foreign direct investment in Africa reached US$62 billion in 2009, up almost…
Nigeria – an economy and linguistic diversity of note
Nigeria, Africa’s second-largest economy, has been one of the continent’s most consistent performers in recent years, with annual gross domestic product increases of between 5% and 8% since 2003. Ranked 30th in the world, Nigeria is the United States' largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa and supplies a fifth of its oil (11% of oil imports). Earmarked as soon becoming the largest economy in Africa, it is worth your while to keep an eye on this country.
South Korea, English and “Konglish” : lost in tranlation II
In our previous spotlight on Korea, we looked at the English mania that has gripped the tiny peninsula. We also touched on “koreanization” as a reason for augmented difficulties experienced…