There are many little differences between languages which have to be catered to. For example, in English, you might write on top of the line on the page but in Hindi, you write under the line and put a line over each word in the language to separate it from the next word. In traditional Japanese, you write from the top of the page to the bottom and traditional books read from what we would consider back to front. Arabic is also written from right to left rather than left to right.

Differences Between Languages

These little differences between languages are fascinating, as are the differences in pronunciation. Have you ever come across a word that you are just not able to pronounce? A number of English speakers find it difficult to roll their “r”s for Spanish. And there are a number of languages in the African subcontinent which have clicking sounds that we may not be used to making.

There’s also the question of accents. Portuguese is technically only one language but the Portuguese spoken in Portugal sounds completely different from the Portuguese spoken in Brazil. And speakers of English in America might have a hard time with people who speak English in Ireland.

Similarities Between Languages

Perhaps what’s more astonishing than the difference between languages is the similarity. Despite the fact that two languages might come from completely different roots and completely different language families, one can translate a document from one into another in such a way that it is mostly understandable.

Yes, there might be some difficulties in finding the exact right word and the exact right sentence structure but overall, the fact is that two people living in completely separate parts of the world can still communicate with each other through the process of translation.

Contact us to learn more about the various languages around the world, their roots and how they can be translated.