Category Archives: Languages/Linguistic curiosities

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Social acronyms, abbreviations, emphatic capitals, expressive word lengthening, creative respellings, keysmashing, hashtags, emoji, and a subtle use of punctuation are just some of the innovative ways to convey nuances of tone of voice that are changing the way we communicate online. With the explosion of …

““Because Internet”, by linguist Gretchen McCulloch: a must read”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village “We use them everyday to say how we’re feeling, what we’re up to, and as extensions of our personality. An emoji can be a convenient addition to a message, or even a primary method of communication”, say the authors  of the illustrated “History of Emojis” …

“A charming tribute to “World Emoji Day 2019” by the AppInstitute”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village The ampersand replaces the word and “without pretension or pomp”, says the author of a recent article for “Quartz”. It goes virtually unnoticed, “but adds pizzaz to the written word”. Maybe that is why it is so popular as a mark of style with logos …

“The rise and fall of the ampersand”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village An increasing number of translators are, in the words of the author of this article for World Literature Today, “working through a coded world of censorship and trying to bring an island to light”. That island is Cuba, which, she adds, which has, for so …

“Translation and its role in the Cuban people’s “diaspora””

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village High quality translation is vital in order to avoid a widening of social strata between those who can afford language education and those who can’t, says the author of a recent article for the Irish Times. As not all language combinations are easily available, indirect …

“The risk of cultural meaning being diluted when translating translations”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Some foreign words imported into English have “diacritical marks”, better known as “accents”. Most of these words are from French but there are many also from Spanish, Portuguese, German and other languages. Just how important to the English language are accented characters? And will they …

“Foreign loanwords in English and the “exotic charm” of accents”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Here is one of many fascinating stories about literary translation and translators, the ups and downs of cross-cultural collaboration, and the recurring dilemma of faithfulness versus accuracy, from a recent article for the Guardian. Uzbek journalist and writer Hamid Ismailov was exiled from his country …

“How a banned Uzbek novel went viral thanks to social media”

by Cristina Titone – cApStAn LQC intern Mickey Mouse is the most famous rodent in the world and a true Disney icon. This popular cartoon character made its first public appearance in 1928 in the United States in the animated film “Steamboat Willie”, and has appeared in over 130 films. As of 1930, Mickey also …

“When translation affects the evolution of a language: the example of Mickey Mouse and the so-called ‘Inflektive’”

by Cristina Titone – cApStAn LQC intern “Linguistic Quality Assurance is a set of processes designed to ensure that multiple language versions of documents meet the highest standards of linguistic, cultural and functional equivalence”: This is the definition of one of the main services offered by cApStAn Linguistic Quality Control. But what does such an …

“Animated films and assessments share a common challenge when going international”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Former Asymptote Journal editor-at-large Tiffany Tsao spent three years translating into English the award-winning “Sergius Seeks Bacchus”, by Indonesian poet Norman Pasaribu. By working so closely together, she says, the labels of “translator” and “author” ring false, because their roles were so “mingled” and “merged.” …

“When author and translator forge a partnership so close that their roles are “mingled” and “merged””

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Talk about what camp means has resurfaced lately thanks to the camp-themed Met Gala. First noted to mean the use of exaggerated actions or gestures in 1909 in the Oxford English Dictionary, It has been suggested that camp could date back to the French 17th century …

“Is “camp” about being an “inherent outsider”? The recent Metropolitan Museum Gala provided endless discussion around what the term means”

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Stories and curiosities about different cultures, languages and traditions abound among cApStAn’s very international linguist team. A charming story shared on the internal blog by South Korean linguist Shinoh Lee sparked off a discussion on how it comes that things get associated with some countries… erroneously! …

“Fun with languages: “Italy Towels” are a popular item in Korea but in Italy no one knows what they are”