Triskaidekaphobia? No, thanks!

The New Year is upon us, and maybe it is time to reflect on it for a bit. 2013. 13. The number. 

Considered magic by some, and cursed by others, it is undoubtedly a number that leaves very few people indifferent.

Despite some religious connotations that could relieve its bad fame, the number 13 still carries a heavy burden. 13th of October 1307 was the day when Philip IV of France ordered the arrest of the mythical Knights Templar, 13 are the knots traditionally needed in a hangman’s noose to make it stable enough to be lethal, and it is also a number often referred to in witchcraft teachings. Not to mention that Friday the 13th is considered the unluckiest day of the year.

Good reasons to have a phobia of the number 13 – triskaidekaphobia?

Not to us. Not after surviving a 2012 that, honestly speaking, has been all but easy.

With an economic crisis devouring the world’s coffers, threats of wars looming all over the news and increasing amounts of unemployed citizens getting more nervous by the day, it is still a wonder that there are businesses out there that are still worth investing in. But there are.

Far from retreating in fear against what may come over us in such difficult times, inWhatLanguage has grown during the last year, welcoming valuable additions to the team such as our new Project Manager, Veronica Johnson, our new Marketing Manager, Lydia Aranda, and no less than 250 new highly qualified linguists. We have earned the patronage of 175 new customers, among which are some as prestigious as Harvard University, Standford University or Silversea Cruise Lines.

With a solid leadership, competitive prices and quality over everything else in our translation service, we have managed to ascend to the top in the world of translation agencies, ending up as finalist for the title of Best of State in Utah, and second place in the list of BestTranslation Agencies published by TopTenReviews – and, in the words of our dear CEO Cody Broderick, “best overall!!!”-.

So… If we were able to achieve all this in the turbulent year 2012… Are we afraid of what comes next? Are you kidding? We are looking forward to growing more in 2013 with 100% growth, new team members, awesome clients, and also by serving our community and non-profit groups to help make our world a brighter place!

Happy New Year to everyone!

2013, here we go!!!

What the Mayans said, and we misunderstood

Photo: John Hill (Wikipedia Commons)

You know what happens when a translation job goes awry?

Doomsday.

You may laugh at this, but I mean this in the most literal kind of way. Today is December 21st, by all means the day when the world is going to end, according to predictions made by “experts” who claim to have interpreted that from ancient Mayan scriptures.

Well, maybe they should recheck with their English-Ancient-Mayan dictionary… If only there was one.

Researchers and archaeologists (actual experts) have been saying over and over that it all has been one terrible misinterpretation; that it is not the end of the world, just the end of an era and a new beginning; that there is nothing to fear and no reason to seek protection from death coming from above.

But of course, the idea of an inescapable fate that will affect poor and rich, young and old, Africans and Americans alike, is just too sweet a deal to miss. Hollywood knows it, and it is actively harvesting its fruits. Some people have spent big money on machinery that will help them in a potential catastrophe situation. And many people have gone on holidays waving goodbye to their coworkers and promising to see them in 2013, “if the New Year ever comes”.

The eminent arrival of the end of the world is by no means something new. But as opposed to a slight suspicion that maybe Nostradamus, or Camille Flammarion, or Pat Robertson, or many others just wanted to have a kick from seeing the reaction in people after predicting the end of all life on planet Earth, this time all the paranoia comes from a choppy translation of scriptures that the Mayans wrote in consistence with their beliefs, without the slightest intention of warning or scaring anyone.

If only they knew…

Anyway, the clock is ticking, and at least here, in Europe, everybody is still walking on their two feet. No UFO has crashed in our backyard and started frying everyone with laser cannons. No heat wave has wiped out the streets of major cities. No earthquake has broken the Earth in two, and no meteorite has appeared out of the void and sunk humanity into extinction, much like the dinosaurs. Excuse me for not being surprised.

However, it is still a reason to be happy and welcome these Christmas holidays all the more. What better time to gather up cozily in a warm house, enjoy the company of your family and loved ones and celebrate being alive? Even though the Mayans never said today would be the actual end of the world, it does feel for some reason like the heavens have given us another chance to appreciate what we have and our capability to feel happiness and love.

And I, for one, am not going to waste it. Doomsday looming over me or not.

Merry Christmas to everyone, and a very happy and promising New Year!

And Carpe Diem, for who knows when will be the next time some enlightened soul will find out that the world is about to blow…

Meet The Newest Member of the Translation Team!

inWhatLanguage is, once again, proud to welcome a new recruit to its ever growing family: Veronica, our new Project Manager!

As a Spanish speaker myself, I am especially happy to have a kindred spirit in the team: another original Spanish speaker who came in contact with English at an early point in her life and… It just stuck with her forever. I mean, the languages of Shakespeare and Cervantes; of Justin Bieber and Shakira. Who could resist?

While she is from Peru and I am from Spain, and we have different terms for things like a cell phone (móvil/celular) or a computer (ordenador/computadora), we share this especial duality that allows us to understand that strange new language, creator of the most terrible jokes I have ever read: Spanglish.

You wanna read an example? Really? Okay, but you were warned…

What did the chair say when leaving? Silla!

…

(… That would stand for ‘see ya’, by the way…)

…

Anyway, before you all go running away in horror, let us know a little more about our new Project Manager, directly from her keyboard to your screens.

"A little bit about me. I’m originally from Arequipa, Peru, but I’ve been in the U.S.A. for almost 15 years and I currently live in Pleasant Grove, Utah. I have a wonderful family (my husband and 3 kids) and we always try to enjoy every moment of the day!

Fifteen years ago I went to Brigham Young University to learn English, and I had the best English teachers, although I learned more from watching TV and interacting with people.  After some years I got a job as a Desktop Publisher and was able to work with many languages, sometimes more than 20.

I learned a lot about other languages and how they are written, especially when it comes to punctuation. While working as a Desktop Publisher, I also went to school for a Graphic Arts degree.  I got my degree and started working as a freelancer for graphic design and desktop publishing; that’s how I met Cody.

A friend of Cody’s referred me to him as a Desktop Publisher, Cody asked me if I wanted to be a Project Manager at inWhatLanguage, and I said yes.

I’ve been working here for over a week now, and I really like it. It can be challenging at times, but I learn new things every day and that’s is very rewarding.

I’m very excited and thankful to be part of the team of inWhatLanguage!"

Musings from The Netherlands

This week, I went to Amsterdam.

The capital of The Netherlands is really something. The official language is Dutch, and even though I speak German, believe me: it’s not the same. It looks different, and it sounds worlds apart.

Was that a problem? Not at all. Because practically everyone there speaks English. And it’s not just the fact that more than half of the population is foreign – Dutch natives are fluent, and not only in English; in good English. The mother and the bus driver. The priest and the pastor. The college student and the college dropout.

I couldn’t help but wince when I went into a bar and talked to a young waiter, asking him to show me what kinds of beers they had that were genuinely local. He spoke, of course, perfect English. And when I said that we came from Germany, he spoke German. And when he found out that my friends were Spanish, he spoke Spanish. When I finally asked him jokingly how many languages he spoke, he shrugged: “Four or five. And here I am, still a waiter.”

That got me thinking. English is becoming the universal language in the whole world. There are still many countries where it’s still not that widely extended, but they are, slowly but surely, going in the same direction as The Netherlands. And in a world where everyone speaks English and is perfectly capable to hold a conversation about any topic, no matter where he or she is from, how are translators necessary?

It was a scary thought. Luckily, I found the answer to my question soon enough. Me and my friends took a cruise around the canals of Amsterdam. We were surrounded by people from all nationalities: from Japanese to Italian, from Turkish to British. And I’m quite sure that 90% of them understood English more or less, but they still asked for a translation of the explanations in their own language. But there just wasn’t enough time. Japanese and Spanish people had to struggle to understand English, spoken fast and with a semi-neutral accent, trying to fill the holes in their understanding with other languages they knew or that sounded similar to theirs.

And then, I noticed that in many restaurants the menus were written exclusively in Dutch, and that very few stops in the subway were actually announced in English. Dutch people are proud of their language, the same as Japanese and Spanish and everyone else, and they want to hear it, and they want to understand completely what others are saying and without straining themselves. It is part of their culture, and it will never disappear in favor of practicality. Same as translation. As translators, we offer the possibility to provide this service that makes people proud and comfortable. And by doing a good job, we assure our own survival.

Thank you, Amsterdam, for enlightening me.