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6 Chinese Phrases You Must Know If you’re Paying Them A Visit!

China is a very large country and a large economy as well. Travelers from across the world go to the country for various purposes. Here are some Chinese phrases that you must know to start the interaction. For more professional translation, you can go for documents translations services. So let’s go through them one by one now.

One # How Are you? (Chinese: ni hao ma?)

Wei is mostly used on the phone and is a Chinese “hello” or “hi.” Ni hao ma? Means “You good.” It is very similar to “How Are You?”, and can also mean “Are you Ok?” You will hear Nihao frequently, and it means “Nice To See You.” They are the most basic and standard Chinese greeting.

Two # Good or Bad? (Chinese: haobuhao)

In Chinese it means Haobuhao? Hao means “good.” It may also mean “Ok.” Buhao means “not good.” You might hear Chinese speakers use “hao” and “buhao” to express their feeling of good or bad. It means “Good Or Bad” or “Is It Ok.” After this or “Ni hao ma?” you can reply “hao” or “buhao.”

Three # Thank You (Chinese: xiexie)

It is the simplest way to thank you. And you will commonly see people using it for greeting.

Four # Have You Eaten? (Chinese: ni chi le ma)

It the Chinese way of showing cares and concern and is almost equal to saying “How Are You?” People may ask “Have You Eaten” as a polite gesture and you may hear a reply “I have eaten” or Chi Le. If you have not, you must put some pressure on the person asking to provide food for you, and that’s considered polite.

Five # Ask What Some Thing Is? (Chinese: zhe shi shenme?)

Here is a good way to both indicate your interest in an item and to learn a lot of new words. The three words are Zhe(this), shi(is), and shenme(what). You can use the phrase to find out what the things are called.

Six # Good Morning! (Chinese: zao an)

In China, people love to say “Good Morning,” so if you greet anyone early, make sure you say “Good Morning.”  You hardly see people saying Good Afternoon (wu an) and Good Night (wan an), and just as in English is a parenting phrase.

Get In Touch

Language Oasis offers documents translation services in many languages and you can get in touch @ 888-670-3369.

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Interesting Facts about Google Translate You Must Know

All of us have used Google Translate at some point in our life. It has helped millions of people communicate in the absence of professional translation. The best part about Google translation is – it is fast, free and most of the time provides an accurate translation of a word, sentence or paragraph. It may not be 100% accurate, but gives a general meaning of a foreign language.

Though many of us are familiar with Google Translate, we might not know some interesting facts about it. Being a well-known certified translation service, here we have assembled 5 interesting facts you must know about Google translation.

Origin

Google translate was introduced in 2006. That time, it used to support only English and Arabic. It has come a long way since then; and at present, it can translate 103 languages!

Users

According to reports of Google translate blog, the service is used by around 500 million users. On the contrary, when this service was started, users were measured in hundreds.

How does Google translate work?

It functions using statistical machine translation (SMT), where computers analyze millions of already existing translated documents from the web to learn vocabulary and search for patterns in a language. The application then picks up the most statistical option when asked to translate a text.

Billions of words a day

It is one of the most amazing facts worth knowing about Google Translate. Google translates more than 100 billion of words every day. It can be equivalent to around an entire sack of 128,000 Bibles each day.

Highest number of users

92% of Google translate users are from outside the US. The highest numbers of users are from Brazil.

It is more than a webpage

One doesn’t need to be online to use Google translate. A user just needs to download the Android app, and it can give a rough translation in approximately 90 different languages on a smartphone (that too without using any data!).

Inaccurate translations

If you find a translation mistake in Google translate, you can report it to Google translate community.

Despite all these facts, Google translate cannot replace human translators because it usually does not provide accurate translations for a reader to figure out the source of text. Along with, Google does not use it for own transaction of business.

The world of language and translation is full of many such amazing facts. We, at Language Oasis, offer professional translation and interpretation services in more than 30 languages. Our skilled and experienced team of translators can do the impeccable translation for any document. Need help in translating a document? Please get in touch at support@languageoasis.com

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4 Touching French Words For You!

French is said to be the most beautiful language in the world. We all know that Paris is the city of love and romance and it is also what makes the French language so attractive.  People in French have je ne sais quoi (ineffable quality) about them. They are bestowed with great style, tasty food, stellar wine and gorgeous accent and a language that is liked the world over. So if you want to impress someone, you can make the best use of these French words (click here for translation and interpretation services). Here we go:

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Bisou

It is a word that slips off the tongue rather quickly when you move away from anyone whose company you enjoy the most. You say it’s Bisous.  Who will you be sending the next Bisou (Kiss) to? In French culture, they greet each other with one Bisou on each cheek in many regions. So when you visit France, put your hands away and extend the cheeks.

Chuchoter

Can you deny an intimate Chucho-Ter (whisper) in French? You might find it a little hard to understand but that may be seen as a bonus (ask for a repeat!). The excitement might send a quiver down your spine.

Parapluie

It is just another beautiful word that might just cheer you on a rainy day. If you go out of the home and hear rain, just ensure that you are carrying a parapluie (umbrella) in the bag. The word is lovely to hear and say, and what’s more, it protects you from the rain as well. Isn’t it great? If you split the word into two halves to make para + pluie, it will help in explaining the origin of this word.  Para- is a prefix that is used to indicate protection (think “parasol” protection from the sun) and pluie is the French word for “rain,” meaning protection from the rain!

Envie

If you are in France and having a nice time with locales and you come across the word envie (desire), then you know they’re interested.  Paris is one of the most romantic cities in the world, and the people here are very romantic as well. You will frequently hear J’ai envie de te vou       (I have the desire to see you).

Get In Touch…

The language is full of many other lovely words and phrases. We at Languageoasis offer professional translation and interpretation services from any language so should you need any help in understanding French or any other language just get in touch with us @ 888-670-3369.

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4 English Words That Used To Mean Something Different

Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going. – Rita Mae Brown

Words change meaning over time, no matter which language they belong to. Sometimes you may notice words changing its meaning under your nose. People sometimes may tell that you are misusing a word, especially if you are not a native speaker. If you ever go back to history, you may land to a time where ‘nice’ used to mean ‘silly’ and ‘silly’ used to mean ‘blessed’! Well, that’s the charm of the language and its evolution.

Let us get to know some of these words which used to mean completely different in past centuries.

Pretty

You must be well acquainted with this word. However, in old English ‘pretty’ meant cunning. Later it acquired some positive implications, like clever, skillful, and so on. Far ahead, the word was used to describe something that has been elegantly made or presented. Perhaps, this was the reason that by the 1400s, the meaning of this word transformed to its current sense, i.e., good looking.

Sly

At present, if someone is called sly, it means that s/he is sneaky or deceitful – not in a good sense. However, the word has been derived in English from Old Norse in the 13th century and had positive meanings, including clever, knowledgeable, and skillful.

Terrible

Terrible made its way to Middle English from Anglo-Norman and Middle French. It used to mean causing terror or great dread. However, by the 1500s, the word started to mean very harsh, formidable and this gives a sense of excessive in a bad way.

Naughty

In the 1300s, if someone is naughty, it means that they were poor or needy. By the 1400s, the meaning altered from having nothing to being morally wicked. It was also used to refer to a sexually provocative person. But in the same century, it derived a gentler meaning, especially applied to kids – mischievous, disobedient or badly behaved.

Conclusion – We have treasures of such interesting facts about English and many other languages as we are an acclaimed translation agency. We offer a variety of translation service, from certified language translation to legal document translation. Our services are fulfilled by an efficient and experienced team of translators who can perform impeccable translation of any document in more than 30+ languages. Do you need any assistance in translation? Contact us at: 888-670-3369.

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Portuguese: An Ancient Language with Rich History

Portuguese is an ancient language that developed in Portugal after Roman settlers brought Latin with themselves in third century BCE. Though the language is drawn up in Portugal, only a small fraction of Portuguese population speaks it. You may find it surprising that there are more Portuguese speakers in Brazil than all other countries combined where Portuguese is spoken! In addition, hundreds of Portuguese words have been derived from Arabic!

Let us explore the rich history of this ancient language.

Portuguese speaking countries

The community of Portuguese speaking countries includes eight members – Portugal, Angola, Cape Verde, Brazil, Sao Tome, East Timor, Mozambique, The Republic of Guinea-Bissau. It also shares the status of official language of Macau with Mandarin Chinese as the region is a former Portuguese territory which was handed over to China in 1999.

How tough is it to learn Portuguese?

If you are acquainted with Spanish, Italian or French, you may find many similarities with Portuguese. For example, each tense form has six different endings. Some sounds of the language are harder to pronounce; still, pronunciation mistakes won’t change the sense you want to convey.

Some interesting facts about Portuguese

Portuguese has loaned many words from Arabic, French and English. In addition, the language has also lent many words to English.

Tongue twisters

Portuguese contains some of the most difficult tongue twisters, for example, O rato roeu a roupa do rei de Roma, which in English means – the rat gnawed the king of Rome’s clothes.

Alphabets

Until recent times, some alphabets like K, Y and W were absent from Portuguese alphabets, however, due to strong influence of English, they were added to write foreign names.

Brazilian Portuguese

After Brazil became independent from Portugal, both regions adopted separate writing systems. However, the Portuguese spoken in Brazil is more close to European variety than the Brazilian one.

To organise and unify the language in a better way, both countries signed an agreement which is known as Orthographic Agreement of 1990.

Conclusion – Being a full-time translation agency, we are aware of many such interesting facts about various languages. We provide translation services in 30+ languages, and our translators are well-versed in different types of translations, be it legal translation or Portuguese translation services. If you are looking for an impeccable translation of any document, contact us at – 888-670-3369. Muito Obrigado!

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7 Cool Slangs from the 90s That Should Be Brought Back

If you were a 90s kid, there are many things which can make you nostalgic about that decade. That time has turned to the past now, but not the language. The 90s has given us some of the best slangs and coolest words that are fun to look back. Let us remind some of the top slangs and words from the 90s as it is time to bring them back.

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Da Bomb!

It was used to refer to something extremely cool.

Example – The red apparel of that girl is da bomb!

Crunk

Though at present this portmanteau word is used to refer durnk+crazy state of someone; in the 90s it was used to describe the excitement of anything, be it a new dress or upcoming hallelujah night.  Being crunk expresses your enthusiasm about that thing as well as how full of energy you are.

Example – Get crunk with some loud music.

Booyah!

This world was used to exclaim great happiness, great joy, the state of being utmost excitement and feeling overwhelmed. Pretty popular in the 90s, it was often accompanied by standard body action, like clenched fist.

Example – You mean it worked??? Booyah!

All that and a bag of chips

This phrase was used to mean someone very cool, great, awesome or wonderful. If you mean that someone or something is better than all that, you can use it.

Example – Hey Man, you are all that and a bag of chips!

My bad

This expression was used to apologize to someone. It is used even today. It is best to use when you messed up something unknowingly and need to say sorry casually.

Example – Aww! Was that your burger….my bad!

Whoop, there it is

It was used to refer that something was already there and others were not aware of it. The phrase can also be used to show accomplishment of a task done.

Example – Where have my keys gone? Found under the table,  Whoop, there it is!

Diss

To refer to disrespect shown by anybody to something.

Example – Did you just diss my mother?

Conclusion – Being an efficient translation agency, we are abreast of many such slangs, words, idioms, and figures of speech. We are a team of professional language translators and offer translation and interpretation services in 30+ languages. If you seek an impeccable translation of any document, get associated with us. Give a call at: 888-670-3369.

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How to Use PUN To Bring FUN In Language? (No Pun Intended!)

‘Poets capture words on the run

Fence then in as writing’s begun

The game is muddled

And authors befuddled

When penning a hard-to-catch pun.’

–Duke Beaufort

You might have marked the use of pun in this short poem; for all those who are not aware of this figure of speech, here we tell you what a pun is.

A pun can be roughly defined as a play on the sounds of the words (same or similar pronunciation but different meanings) to achieve a funny effect. The joke is often addressed intentionally to bring humor that comes out of the confusion of two meanings. For example – Without geometry, life is pointless.

The importance of puns

The point of pun is to keep the mood of the reader/listener light and make them laugh. Pun is used creatively to bring a jokey tone in writing or speaking. It can be said a silly comic relief that can be used in a creative piece of writing.

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Example of puns for famous literary pieces

Shakespeare is considered a huge fan of puns. He used this figure of speech even in his tragic plays, like Romeo and Juliet and leveraged similar sounding words to create dirty puns.

Examples of Shakespearean puns:

  • It is the unkindest tied that ever any man tied
  • When Mercutio begs Romeo to dance, Romeo refuses. Unlike Mercutio’s shoes with “nimble soles,” Romeo says that he has a ‘soul of lead.”
  • At one point, Romeo asks for a torch, saying “being heavy, I will bear the light.”

Puns from poetic works of literature

John Donne

Poet John Donne, whose name rhymed with ‘done’ often punned his own name in his poetry. He even punned his wife’s name Anne More, and the excellent example is:

“Though hast not done, For I have more.”

James Joyce

The famous Irish writer James Joyce has used a good example of pun in his book Ulysses:

If you see kay

Tell him he may

See you in tea

Tell him from me.

Conclusion – Hope you would have enjoyed our write-up on puns. We are aware of many more such figures of speech and their uses as we are a full-time translation agency. Our translators are well-versed in doing a variety of translation, be it legal document translation or certified translation service. Need an impeccable translation of any document? Contact us at – 888-670-3369.

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5 Pairs of Confusing Words That Confuse Even Native Speakers

Accept or except? Elicit or illicit? Tortuous or torturous? You are not sure which one is the correct in the three sets of words, right? There is a long list of confusing words in English that sound and look alike, but carry different meanings. Sometimes, they confuse even native speakers. Using them incorrectly in documents or certificate can change the entire meaning.   Most electronic spellcheckers cannot help you fix this problem. The situation becomes even worse when one of these words is typed wrongly in your certificate/document. So, when you look for documents translations services providers, make sure your translators have a good command of English language. Below is a quick-reference list of pairs of words that often causes people problems.

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Complacent & Complaisant

Both these words come from the Latin verb ‘Complacere,’ which means ‘to please.’ But in English, they have different meanings. As an adjective, complacent denotes smug or self-satisfied. For example: ‘You can’t afford to be complacent about security.’

Complaisant is an adjective. It means ‘willing to please others’. For example, ‘My friend helped the new girl with her project because he is complaisant.

Disinterested & Uninterested

The difference between disinterested and uninterested is often a talk of disagreement. To go back to traditional guidelines, disinterested is not a synonym of uninterested. It does not mean ‘not interested’. It means ‘impartial’ i.e. having no personal connection. Uninterested is referred to as ‘not interested’ at all.

Forbear & Forebear

Forbear means ‘to refrain’ i.e. patiently control an emotion to do something. For example, ‘Still, she couldn’t forbear making one more query as he walked away.’ Forebear means ‘an ancestor’ i.e. a person from whom you are descended or a relative who lived in the past. For example, ‘generations of my forebears had lived in New York.

Prescribe & Proscribe

Prescribe is usually used in the medical term. It means ‘to suggest, especially in writing, the use of a medicine for a particular patient.’ To take an example, ‘The doctor has prescribed me this medicine.’ Proscribe means ‘to not allow something, especially by law or officially ban something.’ For example, ‘The ICC has banned players for using proscribed drugs’.

Tortuous & Torturous

Both the words, tortuous and torturous come with different core meanings. Tortuous is an adjective, which means highly complex, full of twists or complicated and sometimes devious. Example, ‘the streets are very tortuous and narrow.’

Torturous is also an adjective, which means extremely painful. When we talk about torturous, it means a lot of difficulty and suffering. The word has come from Anglo-Norman French, from torture ‘torture’. An example of the word is, ‘Every player will go under a torturous one week of fitness training.’

Conclusion

As a documents translation services provider, we are well aware of these confusing words and know how to avoid blunders. Our professional translators are committed to working carefully on every document. They ensure that every document is translated to be fully error-free.

 

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5 Words You Wouldn’t Guess Geoffrey Chaucer Invented

An author, philosopher, astronomer, courtier, bureaucrat and diplomat, Geoffrey Chaucer is widely acclaimed as the greatest English poet of Middle Ages. Language and literature evolve over time and authors play a momentous role in it. One such contribution is coining of new words. You may not have been aware, but a large number of words which you use today have been invented by authors. Geoffrey Chaucer is given credit for coining around 2000 words in English. It does not mean that he introduced these words, but for the first time, these words were found in his extensive writings between 1374 & 1386.

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Let us learn a few such words.

Plumage

Plumage, which means ‘the covering of feathers on a bird’ is an extension of Latin ‘pluma.’ It was first used by Chaucer in ‘The Squire’s Tale’ where he compares a falcon’s plumage to that of a nobleman.

Example – The tresses of this lady were shining and black, like the plumage of the raven. – The Last of The Mohicans, J. F. Cooper.

Twitter

Extremely popular in contemporary time, Twitter was first used by Chaucer in ‘The Canterbury Tales’ to describe the sound of birds chirping. Think, how might Chaucer feel about people tweeting if he were alive today?

Example – The twitter of birds, the buzz of insects, the far-off echo of voices, the lowing of cattle, the distant barking of dogs… – The Poison Belt, Arthur Conan Doyle.

Dismembering

This word appeared in The Parson’s Tale where Chaucer actually means Christ’s soul separating from his body due to sin. Today this word means one’s body torn to pieces.

Example – A serial murder was accused of murdering and dismembering a teenage yesterday.

Femininity

Femininity appeared in ‘The Man of The Law’s Tale.’ The meaning of the word is supposed to be womanhood.

Example – She seemed to carry with her the concentrated essence of femininity. – The Malefactor, E. Phillips Oppenheim.

Galaxy

The word has been derived from Latin galaxia, which Chaucer spelled ‘Galaxye’ in ‘The House of Fame.’ He seems to mean the Milky Way.

Example – Thou may’st remember each bright Churchill of the galaxy, and all the toasts of the Kit-cat. – The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Henry Fielding.

Conclusion – We are aware of many such interesting facts about language because we are a full-time translation agency. We are a team of expert translators who are proficient in translating a range of documents required by employers, courts, universities, hospitals or government agencies. Be it legal document translation services or birth certificates translation, our expert translators can produce an impeccable translation of a document in 30+ languages. Need any help in translating a document? Contact us at: 888-670-3369.

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4 Most Amusing English Idioms You May Not Be Using

Idioms are metaphorical expressions to intend a meaning or sense which can never be taken literary. Idioms often deviate from the logical rules of language and grammar; still, they are used in common speaking. To understand any language in its authentic version, you have to be familiar with its idioms. No matter, what the language is, if you take a close look at the literal meaning of idioms, you will find most of them amusing.

Here are some of the most amusing English idioms you should immediately add to your vocabulary.

Chinese Language translations

Do a Devon Loch

Devon Loch was a racehorse that collapsed just before the winning line during 1956 Grand National race in UK. This way the idiom entered the language. If someone does a Devon Loch, it means they suddenly fail just before the winning when everybody assumes them to succeed.

Example – It was shocking how Chelsea did a Devon Loch in the last minute of the match.

Bob’s your uncle

This idiom is used to refer ‘everything is okay,’ and something will happen simply in a sorted way.

Example – You have to visit the museum? Go straight to the main road, take the first left and Bob’s your uncle – you’re there!

To pig out

This idiom means to eat very fast or to eat too much and make a pig of oneself in this act of eating.

Example – In summers, we used to stay up late and pig out on ice cream.

Do a runner

This idiom was first used in one of the Shakespeare’s popular plays – Antony and Cleopatra. When someone does a runner, they leave any place in a hurry to escape a difficult or unpleasant situation, trouble or law, usually to get out of paying for something.

Example – The youngsters did a runner as soon as the cab stopped, leaving the driver to foot the bill.

Conclusion – Being a full-time translation agency, we are well aware of many such words, idioms, and figures of speech. We offer professional language translation services in various genre of translation and our team consists of expert & experienced translators who can translate in 30+ languages. If you are seeking for an impeccable translation of any document, get associated with us and leave the rest to our expert translators. For contacting us, give a call at: 888-670-3369.