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Italian language is considered as the child of Latin, and bears resemblance to Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Language experts have always termed Italian language as one of the most interesting languages. As a matter of fact, people from different spheres have shown keen interest in learning this language and going into its depths. Here are few interesting facts about Italian language that you may find interesting.

Not Only Spoken in Italy

Owing to the fact that Italy and Italian sound similar, most people are not aware that Italian is not the official language of just Italy. Switzerland, San Marino, and Vatican City are other three European countries where Italian is the official language; while it is a co-official language of Slovenian Istria and Istria County in Croatia. This indicates there is a large population who are native Italian-speakers.

Number of Speakers

According to Wikipedia, Italian is spoken as a native language by approximately 65 million people in the European Union, mainly in Italy, and also another 14 million people in surrounding regions speak Italian as their second language.

More than one Version

An interesting fact about Italy and Italian language is that there are several languages spoken in Italy itself, and all are thought of being Italian. Standard Italian is the official language of Italy and is based on the Tuscan dialect that was vocalized in Florence during unification of Italy. But, there are other dialects of the Italian language as well, such as Friulan, Sardinian, Sicilian, Ligurian, and Ventian.

Easy to Master

Having said this, don’t start assuming you can master Italian in a jiffy. The reference to Italian language being easy to master is that people who are aware of other European language such as French or Spanish can grasp Italian better and quickly. In fact, there‘s a thing with Romance languages; if you know one of the languages, you can understand all others.

Long Words

Most of the words in Italian language are long. In fact, the longest word in Italian has about 29 letters– esofagodermatodigiunoplastica–which means surgery after the removal of stomach and esophagus. Then there’s a 26 letters long word “precipitevolissimevolmente,” which means extremely quickly.

Final Words

Mastering a foreign language is not an easy task. Hence, if you are visiting any nation for a business trip where Italian is the official language, it would be better to avail translation service for smooth functioning of meetings. Give a call at 888-670-3369 to know more about Italian language translation service.

With high tech applications like google translator that can literally translate any word into another language, a belief has developed that there exists no such thing like an ‘untranslatable’ word for google. However, exploring the dictionary of foreign languages gives us some interesting foreign words that don’t have an exact equivalent in English language. Here are some interesting untranslated foreign words along with an explanation of their origin.

Gezellig

The Dutch word Gezellig is a term that has a difficult meaning and is rather hard to understand through a single English word. Gezelling can be used when you’re having breakfast with your family or at a pub, partying with friends. Even being in a living room can be called gezellig. Hence, with so many uses, getting the exact meaning of gezellig becomes fairly difficult. Gezelling is derived from gezel that means companion or a friend. Thus, the meaning of the word can be interpreted to close, intimate, sociable, or homey in context of where it is being used.  Moreover, it can be used to refer to the general sense of togetherness or a nice atmosphere as well.

Saudade

The Portuguese word saudade is often referred to as an untranslatable word. Saudade is used to describe the feeling of missing someone or something that makes it similar to nostalgia, but not equivalent. Saudade’s definition according to Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is ‘longing, melancholy, nostalgia, or as a supposed characteristic of Portuguese or Brazilian temperament’. The term Saudade is chiefly used in songs or poetry to describe feelings.

тоска

The Russian word тоска (toska) is quite similar to the Portuguese saudade, but exudes more pensiveness. Тоска is frequently specifically used to describe the Russian condition. There are many possible translations for the term Tocka in English such as anguish, boredom, ennui, melancholy, nostalgia, and yearning.

The Greek language is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It is the official language of Greece, and one of the main languages spoken in Cyprus and the European Union. Apart from that, the Greek is identified as a minority language in various other countries around the globe including Turkey, Albania, Canada, and Italy to name a few.

Let’s take a look at some interesting facts about the Greek language and what makes it popular around the world.

Greek Literature

Greek Literature holds a special place in the history of the world–especially Europe. Two monumental works of Homer such as Iliad and Odyssey have played a significant role in the history of Greek literature, while Greek alphabets are used as a base for forming other writing systems in the world. The Phoenician script and the foundation of Latin, Cyrillic, Coptic and other writing systems known to the world today are based on the Greek alphabets.

History of the Greek Language

The Greek language has a vast history that can be divided into six major periods. Every period introduced some changes to the language and played a part in making it one of the world’s most eternal languages. These periods can be listed as:

• Proto-Greek
• Mycenaean Greek
• Ancient Greek
• Koine Greek
• Medieval Greek (Byzantine Greek)
• The Modern Greek

The Koine Greek holds special place for people who are the follower of religious origins. It is in this era where the origins of Christianity can be found.  This form of the language was used by the Apostles to preach in Greece as well as in other Greek speaking parts of the world.

The Greek Alphabet

The Greek alphabet is made of 24 letters with 17 consonants and 7 vowels. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet about 3,000 years ago. Greek is the first language of the world that used distinct letters for consonants and vowel sounds.

Writing Style

Originally Greek was predominantly written from right to left, the style it inhabited from Phoenician, but now it is written in the classical pattern from left to right just like English.

Usage of Greek Words in Other Languages

Today a lot of Greek words have been borrowed widely by other languages including English. The words include astronomy, athletics, biology, democracy, electricity, geography, marathon, mathematics, politics, and technology, among others. Some of the terms derived from Greek language are, ‘meta’ became ‘metaphor,’ ‘tele’ became ‘telescope,’ ‘autos’ became ‘autograph, automatic, & authentic,’ and many more.

In the End

The Greek language has a huge influence on the world languages. If you are planning a business or leisure trip to any Greek speaking country, it is better that you avail the service of Greek translator because you would not want to start your business with inappropriate usage of words  and your half knowledge about the language. For more information about our translation service, call at 888-670-3369.

Languages are always fascinating and the sheer number of languages used across the globe to describe our ideas and feelings to one another is just amazing. Moreover, they help in defining how a particular group of people view the world.

The official language of Czech Republic, the Czech language, has an interesting past and structure, which makes it ideal to study and know about. Here are some fascinating details about the Czech language that are sure to help you understand the language better.

Origin of the Language

It is believed that the language originated around the ninth century in the Great Moravia, earlier Bohemian state. The earliest record of the Czech language refers to it as ‘Proto-Czech,’ which separated from its fellow West Slavic fledglings Proto-Polish, Proto-Slovak, and Proto-Sorbian.

Similarity to Other Languages

Czech language is specifically a western Slavic language and is closely related to languages, such as Silesian and Polish. Due to it being a part of the Slavic languages group, Czech has its vocabulary shared with Indo-European family as well.

Global Czech Speakers

In the present world, it is believed that the Czech language is spoken by roughly 11 million people. Out of those 11 million, about 10 million are native of Czech Republic. The rest comprise of people of Slovakia, where it is a minority language, and European Union.

Words and Vowels

An interesting thing about Czech grammar is that most of the words are used without vowels. Additionally, one can create complete sentences without having a single vowel. This makes it very difficult for foreigners to adapt to the language and master it.

Final Word

The difficulty in learning, understanding, and pronouncing the Czech language makes it important for you to contact translator service during your visit to any Czech speaking nation. Ring at 888-670-3369 for more information on Czech language translation service.

Hindi language belongs to the Indio-European language family and is the official language of India. India is a multilingual country and out of the hundreds of languages spoken across the length and breadth of the country, Hindi is spoken by 40 percent of the Indians.

There are some other interesting facts about the language that are sure to amaze you, especially if you are a resident of India. We have compiled a few of those facts here for you. Enjoy exploring the Hindi language.

Roots of Hindi Language

Hindi language derives much of its formal vocabulary from the Sanskrit language, which nearly goes back to 5,000 B.C. Moreover, the name ‘Hindi’ is of Persian origin and Persians used it to refer Indian people and the languages they spoke.

Official Language outside India

Besides India, Hindi is also an official language of Fiji. However, the language spoken in Fiji is in the form of Awadhi and not modern standard Hindi that is popular in India.

Popular in Other Countries as Well

In addition to being the official language of India and Fiji, Hindi speaking population can also be found in countries like Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canada, Germany, Guyana, Kenya, Nepal, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States, to name a few.

One of the Most Widely Spoken Languages

Owing to such a wide distribution of Hindi speaking population, it is no surprise that the language is among the top five most spoken languages of the world.

Dialects

Hindi is a language that unifies multilingual India and is home to about 400 different languages/dialects. Apart from this, there exist various regional varieties of spoken Hindi. Literary there are 4 varieties of Hindi, including: high Hindi, literary Hindi, nagari Hindi, and standard Hindi.

Grammar and Writing Style

Hindi is written in Devanagari script. The Hindi alphabet comprises of 11 vowels and 33 consonants that are written together to form meaningful sentences from left to right.

Hindi is said to be one of the easiest languages to learn or read because of the fact that everything is pronounced exactly as it is written. Also, every letter of the Hindi alphabet has its own independent sound.

Influence on English Language

English has borrowed a fair number of words from Hindi, some of the familiar words are:

• Guru– Teacher
• Chita– Cheetah
• Chatni– Chutney
• Quli– Coolie

In the End

These are some of the interesting fact about Hindi language; if we have missed out on some do let us know through your comments.

Even though Hindi is said to be one of the easiest languages to learn or read, you must not risk while travelling and expanding your business to nations where it is widely spoken. It is better to avail a Hindi translation service provider to be able to communicate better with the people there. For more information on Hindi translation service, call at 888-670-3369.

There’s not much that we hear about Ukrainian language; so, you can easily be forgiven for not knowing much about it. However, just because we don’t hear about the language doesn’t mean there isn’t much to know. With about 45 million people living in Ukraine and Ukrainian being the official language of the country, there are more people speaking the language than the stats show. Besides Ukraine, Ukrainian is also spoken in various other countries such as Bosnia, Hungary, Romania, and Serbia, among others. Let’s enlighten ourselves with this native language of Ukraine.

History of Ukrainian Language

Though, not much information is available about the origin of Ukrainian, it shares some words with other Slavic nation languages – mostly Polish, Russian and Slovak. Apart from the origin, Historical linguists traced the origin of the language to the Old East Slavic languages in the early medieval state of Kievan Rus’. However, after the fall of Kievan Rus,’ it was believed that the language developed into Ruthenian language.

Throughout its existence, the language has often been looked down upon and was even banned from schools in the Russian empire from 1804 until the Russian revolution. Moreover, the language has always been popular in Western Ukraine, where it never got banned and was used not only in folklore songs, but also by traveling musicians, and prominent authors.

Learning the Language

If you are an enthusiast and want to learn the language, you must know a few things beforehand about it.

The Alphabets

There are some letters that you may recognize from the English alphabets. It is also noticeable that majority of the words in Ukrainian language begin with the letter ‘n’ and the letter ‘o’ is a most frequently used word, while letters such as ‘ф’ and ‘г’ are not used much.

Speaking

Since the language has different alphabets as compared to English, it is a difficult language to master. However, if you have the knowledge of Slovakian, Russian, or Polish language, your task of learning Ukrainian may become easier.

In the End

Regardless of whether you are visiting Ukraine for a while and need document translation, or need Ukrainian translation due to various official reasons, look for a professional translation provider to avoid any last minute problem. For more information on Ukrainian translation, call 888-670-3369.

Japanese is the national language of Japan and is considered as one of the most difficult languages in the world. This fact makes sense when you get to know that the language is not spoken across a large number of countries, in contrast to the likes of English and Spanish.

Here are some more fascinating facts about the language.

Area

Besides having majority of its speaking population in Japan, the language is quite popular in a few other countries including Korea, Taiwan, and parts of China.

No Language Family

Though, the Japanese is said to be a member of the Japonic (or Japanese-Ryukyuan) language family, Japanese is not related to any other language family directly.

Did Anyone Say Difficult?

Despite the fact that Japanese is one of the most difficult and complex languages to master; Japan boasts of an adult literacy rate of 99%.

Writing Style

There are basically 4 distinct systems in which Japanese is written, namely Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana and Romanji.

• Kanji is based on Chinese writing system and contains about 2000 signs. The system was adopted from Chinese in 6th century AD and has developed strongly ever since; in fact, some original letters have also been simplified.
• Hiragana is syllabic and considered as the original writing system in Japan. It consists of simple words, particles, conjugations and children’s literature, due to which, it is the first set of writing taught to children.
• Katakana is primarily used to write foreign words.
• Romanji is romanization of Japanese words and has developed recently.

Formal/Informal Address

There are 4 different ways to address people in Japanese, including kun, chan, san and sama.

• Kun is somewhat patronizing
• Chan is used to address children and people
• San is the universal mode to address
• Sama is used to show respect

Some Grammatical Wonders

In Japanese, the vocabulary of the sentence varies according to the gender of the speaker. Thus, men and women have different vocabularies. Also, there’s no difference between singular and plural.

Word Order

The most interesting point in written Japanese is that verbs usually find place at the end of a sentence. Also, majority of the words in Japanese language end in vowels, which help in determining the rhythm of the language.

Bottom Line

With such interesting facts and features, Japanese is surely a difficult language to master. Thus, if you are heading to Japan or hosting Japanese nationals at your place, it will be advisable to avail translation services from a reputed translation service provider. Dial 888-670-336 to find out more.

Arabic is among the most commonly spoken languages in the world. In fact, it is said to be the 5^th most common language on the planet with around 300 million speakers. It is also believed to be one of the ancient languages; thus, has a great history. Here are some interesting facts about the Arabic language that will help you understand why most people find the language fascinating.

Two Versions of Arabic

There are total two versions of Arabic language i.e. Modern Arabic and Classical Arabic.

Classical Arabic

Classical Arabic is the official language and the holy book of Muslims, Quran, is written in the language. It is the most unadulterated form of Arabic. Till date, it is used to communicate during formal situations, and in publications such as newspapers, academic researches, and study books.

Modern Arabic

In comparison to classical Arabic that is most used in written context, Modern Arabic is primarily used by people in their daily spoken contexts.

The Sacred Language of Muslims

Arabic is a sacred language of people following Muslim religion. Before the holy book of Muslims, Quran, Arabic was mainly an oral language. But, now it is considered a holy language, and has thereby, become a chief language for Muslims.

Semitic Language

Arabic belongs to the Semitic language family, which also includes Hebrew and Aramaic languages. Further to the aforesaid, Arabic is the most commonly spoken language of the Semitic language family and is the official language of the Middle East countries and north of Africa.

Written in Script

The Arabic language is not printed, it is only written in scripts. After the birth of Islam, Arabic inscription became widely available, which made it a very popular language. In fact, Arabic is the second most widespread script in the world.

About Arabic Script

Arabic alphabet contains 28 letters and the language is written & read from right to left. On the other hand, numbers are written & read from left to right. This bi-directional nature makes the language complex. Arabic is always written in cursive, just like English handwriting. Also there’s lot of significance of dots in Arabic. Letters can be differentiated from one another on basis of dots. Adding a single dot by mistake can change the meaning of the word. Moreover, every word in Arabic begins with a consonant followed by a vowel.

Arabic Influence on English

Arabic language has an influence on the English language. Sherbet, magazine, algebra, cotton, mummy, and checkmate are some Arabic origin words used in English today.

Bottom Line

Even though mastering Arabic language is difficult, it is still among the most spoken languages in the world. If you are planning to expand business to the Middle East and are not familiar with Arabic, it is recommended to hire a translation service provider. Call 888-670-3369, to know more about the Arabic translation service.

English is very vast language and its ever changing vocabulary makes it ideal for etymological studies. The language contains various words that have an interesting history and facts associated with them.

Here are a few words of English language that have fascinating historic facts related to them.

Awkward

Awkward is an adjective that is centered on the ‘Old Norse Afugr,’ which means “turned the wrong way around.” Hence, apart from its general meaning ‘Lacking grace,’ the word could also be applied to an animal that is on its back and can’t get up.

Daisy

The word daisy comes from the concept of contraction of ‘day’s eye.’ This concept even applies to the daisy flower that is opened during the day, but closes during the night.

Squirrel

Squirrel lives on the tree and runs too fast that you cannot catch it. But, did you know that the word squirrel finds its origin from the Greek word ‘skiouros,’ which means “shadow-tail.”

Sarcasm

Though, a lot of people usually don’t get the sarcasm, the sarcastic souls enjoy having sarcastic conversations. The word evolved from Greek word ‘sarkazein’ meaning “to tear flesh.” Now you know why passing sarcastic comments makes you look so evil once the person gets the actual meaning.

Girl

In ancient time, the word girl was used to refer to a young person or child of either sex i.e. it wasn’t particularly associated with female child. However, the origin of the term is not certain, but it is related to the Low German ‘gör’ that means “child.”

In the End

These are some interesting words in English language. If we have missed out on something do let us know in the comments section. This post shows how vast languages are and if you are not proficient in them you can make some serious blunders. So, in order to avoid such instances, it is better to avail translation service when dealing with languages that you are not familiar with. Call 888-670-3369 to hire translators.

Korean is the official language of North and South Korea. It is not an easy language to master for foreign nationals and there have been many who have admitted to have fallen by the wayside in their quest to learn the language. Besides having nearly 78 million speakers across the globe, there are some interesting facts about the Korean language, which we have discussed in this post.

Part of Uralo-Altaic Group of Languages

Some people think that Korean is an original language; however, it appears to have links to the Uralo-Altaic group of languages including Mongolian, Finnish, Hungarian, Turkish and Manchu. Although, there’s lack of clear evidence to support this claim, some researchers who studied the history of the language have mentioned about the association.

Interesting Grammar

The grammar of Korean language is quite different and interesting; it doesn’t contain grammatical number, definite or indefinite articles, gender distinctions, etc. Also, there are seven speech levels in the language, with each level having its own set of verb endings that indicate a different level of formality of a situation. Moreover, Korean grammar is quite similar to Japanese, but sounds very different.

Chinese Influence

There are many words of Chinese origin (nearly 70%) found in Korean language, but with different grammar use.

Spoken Areas

There are about 78 million native Korean speakers present in different parts of the world. Then you also find Korean spoken as heritage language in the United States, China, Japan, and former Soviet Union.

Historical Alphabets

15^th century Korean alphabets are known as Hangeul in S. Korea. Their creation was ordered by the ruler of the time, King Sejong and is considered as probably the most scientific alphabet in the world. There are 24 letters with 14 consonants and 10 vowels.

Bottom Line

Korean is an interesting language to speak; however, like many other languages mastering Korean is not that easy. Need language translation? Call 888-670-3369 to know more.

Are you multilingual? What fascinates you about different languages? Share your thoughts with us in the comments’ section.