Posts by Keylingo

If you’re bilingual, you’ve probably been practicing translation on an informal basis for a while.  Maybe you’ve been in social situations where you were surrounded by two people speaking different languages, and you had to make sure they understood each other.  Or maybe you went to see a French film with an American friend and wanted her to grasp certain nuances that didn’t come through in the subtitles.

Getting It Right

Translating on the spot in this manner has probably shown you how certain phrases defy translation.  No matter how hard you try to convey a certain thing in a different language, you feel like you never really get it right.  Often, you need to try out several different combinations of words until you feel satisfied.  In such cases, speed is of less importance than accuracy.  This is something that professional translators have to deal with everyday when providing translation services.

Vocabulary vs. Grammar

We’ve all heard some fairly odd if not downright funny translations of things.  These are usually caused by rushing through a translation and not stopping to think about those little nuances that make all the difference.  Sometimes, the mistranslation is caused by using the wrong word while at other times, it’s the difference in grammar between two languages that leads to the mistake.

For example, in French, all nouns have a gender, something that might seem rather strange to an English speaker.  A book, i.e., “un livre” is masculine while a dress i.e., “une robe” is feminine.  In French, one might say, “Elle a une robe bleue.  Elle l’aime beaucoup.”  If you weren’t to consider the difference between English and French when it comes to gender, you would translate this as , “She has a blue dress.  She loves her a lot.”  In fact, many French speakers who have just started to speak English find it difficult to remember the English convention of referring to things as “it” and continue to use “he” and “she” instead.

Ancient and Modern Languages

So in order to accurately translate something, you have be conversant with the vocabulary as well as the grammatical structure of both languages.  In some cases, the grammatical structure of one language is more complicated than that of another.  Ancient languages like Greek and Sanskrit tend to have more complicated grammatical rules.  However, modern languages are simplified versions of these.

Contact us at Keylingo for translations that are accurate from the point of view of vocabulary as well as grammar.

AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-04-02T15:09:19.321Z):

When translating a document, a translator has the option of going with a more literal translation or one that more accurately expresses what a certain person is trying to say.  For example, the verb “comprendre” in French can be translated as “to comprehend” which seems more literal because the two words are so close in spelling.  However, it can also be translated as “to understand” because this is the verb which is more commonly used in English, as opposed to “comprehend.”

Understanding vs. Comprehending

Although the two words mean more or less the same thing, “understanding” can apply to something simple.  One can understand what it means to solve a puzzle or read a book.  Comprehending something has a more comprehensive quality about it and is used when you’re referring to something a bit difficult to understand.  You could comprehend the meaning of Plato’s definition of the perfect state in his seminal work, theRepublic.  But it sounds a little odd if you were to say that you comprehend how to make a peanut butter sandwich.

Earlier Conventions Emphasized Meaning

So what exactly should a translator do when faced with a verb like “comprendre”?  Should s/he translate it as “comprehend” or “understand”?  The convention in the translating world used to be the usage of whatever is more commonly used in the destination language.  Since “understand” is more commonly used in English, the translator would generally translate “comprendre” as “to understand.”  Nowadays, however, the conventions are changing and people have started realizing that you can maintain the flow and beauty of the source language if you translate more literally.

Recent Translations Take Into Account Beauty and Flow

Consider the following sentence taken from Marcel Proust’s A La Recherche du Temps Perdu: “je n’avais pas cessé en dormant de faire des réflexions sur ce que je venais de lire, mais ces réflexions avaient pris un tour un peu particulier.”  In an earlier translation, the translator avoided using a more complex word like “reflection” to translate “réflexion” and instead went with the word “thought,” saying, “I had gone on thinking while I was asleep, about what I had just been reading, but these thoughts had taken a rather peculiar turn.”

In a more recent translation, Lydia Davis decided to stick with something closer to the original, saying, “I had not ceased while sleeping to form reflections on what I had just read, but these reflections had taken a rather peculiar turn.”  Davis chooses to retain the word “reflection” for “réflexion” and this maintains the beauty of the French language even in translation.

Of course, a translator must always consider exact meanings, but where possible, it’s a good idea to maintain this kind of beauty of the language too.  Contact us for professional translations that will take both, accuracy of meaning and beauty of language into account.

AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-04-02T15:09:13.149Z):

Anyone who is bilingual knows that translation is a difficult procedure.  Not only does grammar vary from language to language, but often, one language may have words which another language doesn’t have.  How do you translate phrases such as “je ne sais quoi”?  Technically, you would say, “I don’t know what,” but this really doesn’t convey the sense of charm that goes with the phrase “je ne sais quoi.”

Translating “Je Ne Sais Quoi” and “Savoir-Faire”

To say that someone has a certain “je ne sais quoi” is to suggest that there is something unspeakably appealing about them.  Perhaps they have a certain sense of style or, to use another French phrase, “savoir-faire,” the closest equivalent to which in English is “know-how.”  But “know-how” doesn’t express the sense of knowing what to do in every social situation or passing oneself off with ease.  The English word “address” comes closer in meaning, but “address” now has a more archaic feel to it.

Cultural Differences Affecting Translation

Why is it so difficult to translate phrases like this?  One of the reasons is because different cultures emphasize different traits.  In France, it’s considered very important to have a certain amount of “savoir-faire,” to be socially adept and have good manners.  In England and America, two of the countries where English is the main language, society emphasizes different qualities.  In the U.S., it’s often considered important to be a self-made man, to rise on the basis of your own merits.  In England, the bluff, congenial Englishman is the norm.  He is a straightforward kind of man who recognizes others like him at a glance and doesn’t need “savoir-faire” to be a respected member of society.

Building a Bridge Across Cultures Through Translation

Of course, these categorizations are very general and should not be taken as fact.  There are, no doubt, men with savoir-faire all over the world and self-made men or bluff, congenial men within France.  However, it’s important for a translator to take into account societal values when making a translation.  Something that appeals to a self-made man may or may not appeal to one with savoir-faire and vice versa.  To find that common ground which connects all cultures and to enable one to see what’s good about another is the goal of the translator.

Contact us for translation services that take into account cultural differences and similarities.

AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-04-02T14:54:18.773Z):

Some of the first translations into the English language were done by Chaucer who adapted works written by Giovanni Boccaccio while writing A Knight’s Tale and Troilus and Criseyde.  He also started a translation of Roman de la Rose, a French work, and the oevre of Boethius, which was in Latin.  Obviously, he was a very well read man to be able to translate and adapt these works.

Chaucer was born to a merchant, but his parents were doing so well that it wasn’t necessary for him to become a merchant too.  Instead, he became a page to the Countess of Ullster and began a diplomatic career which took him to many places.  He became a well-respected man in this field, and he could have chosen to just endorse the power held by the aristocracy in his day (he was born in the early 1340s).

However, Chaucer was determined to look beyond the life that he had the privilege to lead, and he decided to do this via translation and other literary works.  At this time, the official language of the state was French, and the official language of the church was Latin.  Rather than only writing in these two languages as many writers of his day chose to do, Chaucer decided to write in and translate into English which was considered beneath the upper classes.  English was a language only spoken by the common people.  By translating into English, Chaucer recognized the beauty of this vernacular language and was one of many responsible for making it as widely spoken as it is today.

The example of Chaucer shows how a translator can really change the world.  By taking tales that were only accessible to those who spoke French, Italian and Latin and translating them into English, Chaucer gave people the opportunity to learn about things from far off lands and to become more cosmopolitan.  Through his travels, he carried knowledge from one place to another and this is the very definition of translation which means “to carry across” in the original Latin.

Translators help to make the world a smaller place and bring about communication between groups who couldn’t have communicated before.  And hopefully, the result of this communication is better understanding and greater harmony.

Contact us for translation services that will get across what you’re trying to say in the language of your choice.

AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-04-02T14:54:14.634Z):

Languages are so ancient that studying even the oldest texts can help in modern day translation services.  The Ancient Greeks, who are known for their contribution to Western civilization first came up with an alphabet by adapting the one used by the Phoenicians, another ancient Semitic civilization.  As a result, the works of Homer were written down and this led to a lot of discussion and dialogue—what we would today call literary criticism.

Plato’s Views on Language

In the dialogue Cratylus, Plato considers whether language is a human creation, a result of social convention or supernatural in origin.  He argues that language is developed through a natural process and is not dependent on human beings for its growth.  Towards the end, he admits that society might play a small role in language formation but, by and large, he considers language to be independent of societal constructs.

Language as  a Natural Process

A translator can benefit a great deal from reading the works of Plato because it’s interesting to consider what the origins of language really were.  If language is the development of a natural process, then a translator could benefit by learning about other natural processes like evolution.  One often refers to the “evolution” of a language without realizing that this concept might have first been developed by Plato.

A translator is likely to find many examples of the evolution of a language because, even within the same society and culture, words often change in meaning as time goes on.  Something which might have had a positive connotation at one point may come to mean something negative later on or vice versa.  For example, take the word “demon.”  When the Greeks referred to demons or “daimons,” these were generally positive entities which were half god and half human.  Now, of course, demons are considered negative beings that possess people.  Knowing that a word has changed meanings can help a translator pick the right meaning, depending on what time period his/her text originates from.

Language as a Societal Construct

On the other hand, if language is influenced by society, then the study of societal mores and customs can help in translation.  We often find that the same word takes on slightly different meanings depending on the culture that uses it.  For example, the French phrase “carte blanche” generally indicates permission or ability to do whatever one wants.  However, in the Regency period in England, it was generally used to indicate a woman who had been taken on as a mistress by a man in high standing.  The woman was given “carte blanche” which meant that she could buy whatever she wanted with the man’s money.  In a period where mistresses were the norm, the term “carte blanche” took on this other meaning.

Contact us for translations that take into account the effects of nature and nurture on the development of language.

AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-04-02T14:54:11.298Z):

Human beings in general are fallible, something we become more aware of when translating a document.  Different languages have different words for the same thing, or so we think.  The truth is that words indicating the same thing in different languages have slightly different connotations.  No matter how accurate a translation may be, it still has to deal with these minor differences.  The result is that all translations are slightly different from the originals, a fact that is humorously emphasized by the process of back-translation.

In back-translation, a document is translated from one language to another and then back into the original.  Mark Twain did a hilarious back-translation of one of his stories, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” which was translated into French.  One of the reasons why the back-translation sounds so funny is because the original text includes a great deal of colloquial speech.  For example, Mark Twain writes, “he was the curiousest man about always betting on anything that turned up you ever see, if he could get anybody to bet on the other side; and if he couldn’t he’d change sides.”

In the back-translation, this sentence comes out as, “but of all sides he was the man most fond of to bet which one have seen, betting upon all that which is presented, when he could find an adversary; and when he not of it could not, he passed to the side opposed.”  At times, this back-translation deteriorates into gibberish.  It’s obvious that Twain did this on purpose to make it more hilarious.  He could have smoothed out the parts that made no sense, such as “when he not of it could not” but he chose to translate word by word to emphasize the limitations of translation.

This is a pretty extreme example of the dangers of translation and the things that a translator ought to be wary of.  However, it underlines how a translator has a difficult and delicate job which should not be undertaken lightly.  At Keylingo, our translators are aware of the pitfalls of translation and will do their best to accurately translate your documents into the language of your choice.  

Contact us for translation services that take accuracy and readability into account.

AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-04-02T14:54:07.654Z):

If you’re doing business in Dallas, you know that being able to effectively market to the large Spanish-speaking community is extremely important. No matter what kind of retail business you run, being able to effectively target this large demographic is the key to staying ahead of the game.

Whether you’re planning to start a new business, or you’re planning to expand your current one, considering Dallas translation servicesshould be on your list of priorities. Here’s why:

Hispanics now make up 43.9% of the Dallas population: Latinos and Hispanics make up the fastest growing segment of the Dallas population. Since 2000, the Hispanic population has grown from 35.6% to its current level of 43.9%. Being able to more effectively market towards this quickly-growing demographic is important.

38.4% of Dallasites speak Spanish at home: Almost the entire Hispanic population speaks Spanish in their home. Of this number, 45% of these households speak English fairly well to fluently, while the remaining 55% do not speak English well. Being able to communicate effectively with such a large market that may not speak English well greatly increases your business’ growth potential.

Dallas ranks among the most popular destinations for Mexican immigrants in the US: Over 26% of the population of Dallas is foreign born, and most of these immigrants are coming from Mexico. Unlike born Hispanic and Latino residents born in the US, Mexican immigrants are much more likely to speak Spanish much more proficiently than English. Between the influx of native-born Spanish speakers and the growth of the local Hispanic population, the number of Spanish speakers in Dallas will continue to rise for the forseeable future.

With so much of your market (and work force) speaking a language other than English, proper and professional translation services can save you a lot of hassle and expand your business’ options.

Contact us today for more information on reliable Dallas translation services.

AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-04-02T14:54:00.268Z):

If your Hispanic target market is Texas’ capital city, Austin (pop. over 1.25 million), to reach that market you’ll need to employ Austin translation services. The numbers tell the story.  In fact, the Hispanic population in Austin has experienced phenomenal growth in the last 12 years.

Austin Hispanic stats

Consider the following stats from the Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on potential Spanish speaking customers:

• Hispanic population: 657,000+ (about one-third of the total Austin metro area)
• Hispanic Population growth: From 2000 to 2010, the Hispanic population in Austin increased by an astonishing 64%. This amounted to 45% of the total growth for the Austin Metro region.
• Average Hispanic income: From $35,000 to $75,000 per year.
• Hispanic purchasing power: Grew by 54% to a whopping $9.4 billion.
• Hispanic-owned firms (2007): 13.1%.

Ample media outlets

The Austin broadcast area includes four (two broadcast and two cable) Spanish-only television local outlets, two AM and two FM radio stations. Austin is also home to three Spanish-language newspapers, Ahora Si!, El Mundo and La Voz De Austin.)

Advice when targeting the Hispanic market

If you’re planning on expanding your business to reach out to Hispanics, here’s some marketing advice. It’s from a recent Houston Chronicle article that we highlighted in a blog last April. It bears repeating:

• Avoid stereotypes. Stereotyping can backfire because it is not only ineffective, but it also can be viewed as insensitive or even racist. Hispanics resent being viewed as different or separate.
• Use language that demonstrates that you understand the local Austin Hispanic culture, which is essentially family oriented.
• Be sensitive to traditionalists. They are the older or are newly relocated, and their primary language is Spanish, and they rely heavily on Spanish media outlets for information and ideas on where to take their business.
• Likewise focus on the later generations of the Hispanic market. View this group as bicultural and plan for both English and Spanish ads in your marketing plans.
• Don’t neglect brand awareness. You will build lasting loyalty if you take the time and extra effort. Focus on community activism and service, and over time you’ll gain fiercely loyal customers.

If you are located in or targeting Austin and plan on reaching out to the growing Hispanic market, contact us. No matter what your translation needs — from a Spanish language website to media copy that matches the local culture — we’ll broadcast your message in high cultural fidelity.

AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-04-02T14:53:57.381Z):

If you’re selling your home, or make your living as a real estate agent, you may be wondering why the growing real-estate market seems to be passing you by. You recognized the growing importance of the Internet and automatically put all your home sales online, complete with pictures and glowing descriptive text. Yet, you don’t have as many inquiries or showings as you’d like.

Maybe it’s because all your text is in English. Foreign buyers are becoming a growing force in the U.S. Real estate market. For example, the National Association of Realtor reported that in the 12 months ending March 2013, Chinese buyers accounted for 18 percent of the $68.2 billion dollars spent on homes in the U.S. They typically spent a median $425,000 and almost 70 percent paid cash for their purchases.

Foreign buyers naturally prefer to read listings in their own language. You could use one of those web translation services to convert your housing descriptions. If nothing else, you’ll be providing laughs to the foreign buyers. Don’t believe us? Use these machine services to convert one of you current descriptions to another language. Then convert the translation back to English to see how incomprehensible the text has become.

The only way to appeal to foreign buyers is to have you text transformed by a professional translation service. We are not only aware of the language nuances but are sensitive to other cultures. We can also suggest a layout for your page that takes advantage of international sensitivities, which is critical when dealing with languages that use the non-Roman alphabet, such as Chinese or Arabic.

Contact us today to see how we can help you.

AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-04-02T14:53:54.095Z):

California holds the distinction of being one of the most diverse states in the union. Hispanics or Latinos of any ethnicity now make up 37.6% of the population, and Asians have hit 14.9%. To maximize your business’ impact on the market, it’s necessary to connect with a growing diverse consumer base.

Here are some things you need to consider when doing business in the Golden State:

Growing importance of Spanish Hispanics and Latinos currently make up 37.6% of the population. By 2020, they’re projected to make up 40.7% of California’s population. Not only is having reliable Spanish translation necessary for connecting with the Spanish speaking portion of this demographic, but being able to engage in cross-border business can prove to be a very lucrative opportunity.

Chinese growth will have a large impact on business. On top of traditional Asian exporters like Japan and South Korea, the growing Chinese economy means that the possibility of doing business with Chinese companies is much more significant now than ever. Additionally, Chinese tourists will make up the majority of visitors to Los Angeles by 2020. Being able to effectively communicate with and market to these visitors will be key to growing a thriving business.

Immigrant-owned business will be a much larger portion of the market. The number of immigrant-owned businesses is on the rise. Partnering with these businesses will be a large part of B2B relations in the future – especially as a way to increase the target demographic of both parties involved.

Sharing a border with Mexico as well as a maritime border with East Asia means that having reliable California translation services is key to doing business. Contact us today to make sure you’ll be able to work effectively with our new neighbors.

AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-04-02T14:53:50.344Z):