Unfortunately, errors happen in every program We have caught a new error, this time in Xliff Editor, a text editor included in the Translation Workspace software package. Here’s what it looks like:  Failed to load built-in plugin(s): Failed to activate the plugin: … reason : … * * * The error happens due to the wrong configuration of […]

Linguogeographic notes The country of Haiti occupies a third of the island of Hispaniola, once called Hayti and still called so in many languages, other than Romano-Germanic, due to the confusion of their speakers. The remaining two-thirds is occupied by the Dominican Republic, sometimes also called Dominicana. A highly puzzling region. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and the only […]

About using symbols A Native American chief named Sequoyah, also known to the world as George Guess, knew no English but often saw European settlers writing in it. His native language was Cherokee, which at that time (the early 19th century) did not yet have an alphabet. Realizing that sounds could be represented by signs and […]

Amusing to tears In English, due to its twisted spelling, it is not always possible to exactly identify the word pronounced. What is meant by [raɪt]—right, rite, wright, write? Pronounced similarly and written differently, these words are called homophones. Lots of jokes are based on homophony. For instance, May 4 is celebrated as the so-called Star Wars Day because the […]

That infamous awkward moment On an annoyingly regular basis, we find ourselves in the same situation: some John Smith says, “Hey, I know you do translations professionally, and my daughter (sister, niece) just happens to have graduated with a linguistics degree and is now looking for a job. She speaks English (German, French) so great! […]