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.

Our world wasn’t as we see it today. It has undergone major changes through centuries to reach this stage. From demographic to life on planet, a lot has changed. Humans created boundaries and divided the land into collection of different countries, with each country having its own culture and language.

Every language spoken in the world has its own history associated with it. In this post, we are going to discuss about Vietnamese language and learn how it has evolved over the years through some interesting facts about it.

Native Language

Vietnamese is the official language of Vietnam. Besides being the native language of the Vietnamese (Kinh) people, it is also first or second language of a lot of ethnic minorities of Vietnam. As a result of migration, the language has crossed the Vietnam shores and reached to other parts of the globe.

World-wide Reach

The immigration of Vietnamese nationals over the years has resulted in Vietnamese speakers being found in East and Southeast Asia along with North America, Australia, and Western Europe. Today, it is estimated that about 90 million people on the plant speak Vietnamese.

Chinese Influence

Vietnamese vocabulary is influenced by Chinese language. The language uses a formal modified set of Chinese characters like chữ nôm. There are also traces of Latin influences, as some Vietnamese alphabets being used today have additional accents for tones & certain letters.

6 Different Tones

The diacritics written above and below the vowel determine the tone of the Vietnamese letters. Based on the influence and use of diacritics the Vietnamese language has six different tones. This makes it difficult for a non-native to master the language. In comparison, Mandarin Chinese has four tones (including neutral), while Cantonese has eight.

Periods of Vietnamese Language

Since the language has evolved over the years, there have been different periods of Vietnamese language, which are:

–          Pre-Vietnamese
–          Proto-Vietnamese
–          Archaic Vietnamese
–          Ancient Vietnamese
–          Middle Vietnamese
–          Modern Vietnamese

Modern Vietnamese is what people around the world speak today.

Final Word

While catching the accent is a little difficult because of different tone types, Vietnamese is definitely an interesting language to speak and learn. If you are expanding your business in Vietnam or need translation of medical or assignment papers, dial 888-670-3369.

A language that is known for its beautiful words and charismatic sentences, Urdu belongs to the Indic group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily and the Indo-European family of languages. Urdu is also one of the 15 languages recognized in the Indian constitution. About 100 million people of Pakistan and India understand Urdu and the language is also the official tongue of Pakistan.  In this article, we have focused on the popularity of Urdu in Asia and beyond Asian sub-continent.

Popularity in Pakistan

–          Pakistan is believed to be a home to about 10 million Urdu speakers.
–          It is the official language of all providences of Pakistan.
–          Urdu is mandatory for students.
–          Besides Punjabi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Balochi, Pashto, Kashmiri, Brahui, and Siraiki, Urdu is also a mother tongue of the country.

Popularity in India

–          There is a considerable Indian population that can effortlessly communicate in Urdu.
–          In India, Urdu is mostly spoken in various cities including Lucknow, Bhopal, Hyderabad, and Delhi, to name a few.
–          There are some schools where Urdu is taught as first language. Indian madarsas teach Arabic as well.
–          In India more than 2900 daily newspapers in Urdu are read. Newspapers such as Daily Pasban, Munsif Daily, Inqilab, Siast Daily, and Daily Salar are distributed across Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mysore, and Mumbai.

Popularity in Other Asian Countries

Afghan refugees who are believed to have made Pakistan their home in past, learned Urdu. After moving back to their country they took the language along; thus widening the horizons for the language.

Popularity beyond Asian Sub-Continent

–          Outside the Asian sub-continent, the language is spoken by a large population of workers who moved to major urban centers in Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia.
–          Urdu is also gaining popularity in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Norway, and Australia, where it is spoken by a substantial numbers of immigrants who moved to these major urban centers for better livelihood.

Final Words
Initially, it may not be possible to understand and catch hold of the language as well as you want to, thus, you will need assistance of experienced Urdu translators. Dial 888-670-3369 to talk to professionals.

Know any interesting facts about Urdu? Share with us in the comments’ section.

Every year Oxford English Dictionary expands its knowledge base by adding new and interesting words. While Flash Mob, Mouseover, Young Adult etc. were some of the exciting new words added in the year 2013, there are some more such words added to the dictionary in the year 2014 and 2015. Let’s take a look at these interesting new words.

Duck Face

Though the word is not new to the current generation, it is new for traditional English speaking people. Smartphones made it possible for people to access the internet while on the go and take as many selfies as they are willing to with the help of front cameras. Young girls and boys took it to new level with their duck face photos.

Oxford defines the word as “An exaggerated pouting expression in which the lips are thrust outwards, typically made by a person posing for a photograph.”

Some examples to use the word are:

• That’s another of her duck faced profile pics.
• Purse your lips into duck face for a photograph.

Hawt

Hawt is a very common word among youngsters these days. This is one word that is considered to be ‘cool’ by the tech-savvy generation of today.

There’s no formal definition for the word, but this is what Oxford has to say about Hawt “Informal spelling of hot.”

Let’s see how you can use the word to frame sentences:

• She’s looking really hawt in that dress.
• It’s getting extremely hawt these days.

Fone

Just like hawt, fone is also another way of writing ‘phone’. It was needless to write ‘ph’ to describe a fone and Oxford obliged by including the word in the dictionary.

No formal definition has been provided by Oxford apart from –“ Fone is a different spelling for phone.”

Some ways of including the word in daily use are:

• Put your fone on silent mode.
• I’m just a fone call away.

So these are some really interesting words added by Oxford. What do you have to say about them? Let us know about your views in the comments’ section.

Want to remain ahead of the crowd? Make sure that your ads and business campaigns use correct translations and the words that may relate to the young generation. For translation services, dial 888-670-3369.

Television has a huge influence on our lives. From the way we dress up to the way we talk, we try to copy our favorite stars, act like popular television characters, and wear t-shirts that are printed with popular quotes and logos of TV series. There are some phrases and words that have become popular due to TV shows. Here is a list of words that own their popularity to TV series –

Boom-boom

Boom-boom is a popular word that is used to draw attention to a weak or obvious joke or pun. It gained popularity in Britain as a catchphrase when it was used by a children’s television puppet Basil Brush, which first appeared in 1953.

Cowabunga

The word first gain popularity in 1950s after it was used by a character on the US television program Howdy Doody. After that, it was used in a US TV cartoon program Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987-96), which made it common among people.

D’oh

The phrase was used by a highly popular character Homer Simpson from the hit American cartoon series The Simpsons (1989). Whenever things didn’t go well the character used to exclaim ‘d’oh!’

Mind-meld

In terms of Science fiction, the phrase points to a technique meant for psychic fusion of two or more minds, which permits deep understanding or unrestricted communication. It was originally used in the famous TV series Star Trek. However, the use of the word has extended beyond original sci-fi context.

Omnishambles

Used in the satirical TV program ‘The Thick of It’, the word points to a situation that has been widely mismanaged via strings of blunders and miscalculations. Omnishambles has also made it to Oxford Dictionary and the word was selected as Oxford Dictionary word of the year 2012.

What are your favorite words from your favorite TV series? Do let us know in the comments’ section. Need English translation? Dial 888-670-3369.

Grammar, for ages has been the most difficult subject to study for a lot of people. During childhood, most of us must have got scolded by our English teacher on numerous occasions to get those ‘commas’ and ‘apostrophes’ right. In addition to this, who can forget tenses, they were like albatross around the neck for some. If scolding wasn’t embarrassing enough, seeing the entire class having a laugh at your expense added salt to the wound. These are surely memories that no one will ever forget.

You must be wondering why we are recalling these childhood memories. Well, with this blog we are trying to show that some have issues in framing grammatically correct sentences even after growing up. Here’s a glimpse of how challenging grammar is for some people.

#1)

Looking at this error, you must have realized the level of difficulty people have with correct grammar. Putting comma can indeed save someone’s life.

#2)

This image depicts the importance of hyphen. What’s your say ‘is the squirrel eating pumpkin’ or ‘is it a squirrel-eating pumpkin’?

 

#3)

Avoid your girlfriend? It isn’t that easy–especially when your girlfriend starts correcting your grammar.

#4)

Wondering where to find such a human who is ‘disabled elderly pregnant children’? Either we haven’t seen all of mankind or someone needs to correct their grammar.

#5)

Agreed, that’s really creepy! It’s time people take grammar seriously, period.

#6)

Nothing left to say, the image says it all.

#7)

Different genders, different ideologies. Both tried to prove they are superior, but girls nailed it! Did anyone say ‘Powerpuff Girls?’

#8)

Don’t worry; even we’re trying to figure out what the person meant here. Start proof reading what you write people!

#9)

Being over smart is not always fruitful. Putting an apostrophe anywhere isn’t the way to get the things right.

#10)

That’s called a bad beginning. Wonder what the kid will learn.

If you are learning English, it is imperative to pay extra attention to grammar. Also, if you are looking for translation services, then you need to find a reliable service provider with knowledgeable professionals to ensure that you don’t have to face such grammatical blunders.

Have similar examples or stories to share? Let us know in the comment’s section.

English language has been evolving for a long time. There are many words in English that are adopted from other languages and a few of them are mixtures of different words. Here is a list of foreign languages that have influenced English.

French

French language is believed to be a high contributor to English, as nearly 30% of English words are believed to be of French origin. Legal, military, political terminology, words for meat of an animal, words referring to foods are mostly inspired from French. For example, chair (from chaise), bottle (from bouteille), stranger (from étranger), lizard (from lézard), etc. are some famous English words of French origin.

Latin

A lot of scientific and technical words, medical terminologies as well as academic and legal terminologies in English have been derived from Latin. For example, mind (from mens), water (from aqua), dog (from canis), rainbow (from iris), etc. are famous Latin to English words.

Dutch

Dutch words have a wide influence on English language. Words like skipper (from schipper), landscape (from landschap), forlorn hope (from verloren hoop), cookie (from koekie), the very famous Santa Claus (from sinterklaas), etc. are English words that originated from Dutch language.

Indian Languages

Indian languages contributed to English in many ways. Various words related to culture, mathematical terminologies, and others have originated from the colonial era. For instance, Bungalow (from bangla), Shampoo (from champo), cushy (from khusy), juggernaut (from Jagannath), mother (from mater), etc. have been derived from Indian languages.

Spanish

Many words relating to warfare and tactics that are a part of English language today have been derived from Spanish. For instance, albatross (from alcatraz), cannibal (from caníbal), cockroach (from cucaracha), galleon (from galeón), etc. are famous English words that are derived from Spanish.

You see there’s a big influence of foreign languages on English. Hence, if you are finding it difficult to appropriately translate your documents in English, it is advisable to contact a translation service provider for correct translation. For further information, dial 888-670-3369.