Category: Translation_Tips
Events, conferences and simultaneous interpreting in the new normal
Online meetings and video conferences were less than 3% of the entire conference industry until only a few months ago. Starting from March and with the global lockdown measures, on-site interpreting was literally obliterated. We found ourselves in an almost 100% remote video format. It is impossible to know what the event industry look like once the pandemic is over, but it is safe to assume that the share of online meetings will not go back to 3%, it will […]
Use a comma after introductory adverbial phrases
The following text is taken verbatim from the book, 300 Days of Better Writing: A daily handbook for improving your writing written by David Bowman (2010) “An introductory adverbial phrase is a phrase at the beginning of the sentence that tells something about the main verb, such as when it occurred, how, or to what degree. Consider this sentence. “After reading the newspaper, John felt relaxed.” The phrase “after reading the newspaper” tells when John felt relaxed. This phrase is an introductory […]
Avoid artificial superlatives
The following text is taken verbatim from the book, 300 Days of Better Writing: A daily handbook for improving your writing written by David Bowman (2010) “Artificial superlatives are words like really, super, and very. People use them in an attempt to get the reader excited about some idea or topic. Consider these sentences. “The Broncos are really great. They are having a very good year.” The problem is that these words don’t actually add anything to the meaning. For […]
US English: Place ending punctuation inside the quotation marks
The following text is taken verbatim from the book, 300 Days of Better Writing: A daily handbook for improving your writing written by David Bowman (2010) “(Note to our friends in Great Britain: reverse the tip in the next paragraph, and you will probably do fine.) When providing a direct quote or using quotation marks to indicate that you are writing about a word or phrase, the comma or period that ends the phrase or sentence should be placed inside […]
Percentage vs. Percentage Point
A percentage point or percent point is the unit for the arithmetic difference of two percentages. For example, moving up from 20% to 42% is a 22-percentage point increase, but is a 110 percent increase in what is being measured. Let’s see this with an example: Source Text: Trump’s job approval has risen from 44 percent on March 16 by 5 percentage points to 49 percent nine days later on […]
Drop That That
Using too many ‘thats’ will rob your sentences of their pace and spontaneity. This is especially true for verbs of speech or thought such as say, think, know and so on. Read or listen this example carefully: Bolton said that he will make a statement about the share repurchase plan on Monday. Better: Bolton said he will make a statement about the share repurchase plan on Monday. But not all thats are the same. Although some thats sound superfluous, not all […]
Avoiding Long Sentences
Writing long sentences will alienate your readers and would even cost you your customers. Try to shorten your sentences whenever possible: Long: The company will invest $2billion in a new semi-conductor manufacturing plant in San Jose, California, which will have living quarters for engineers, a school, a swimming pool and a recreation center. Better: The company will invest $2billion in a new semi-conductor manufacturing plant in San Jose, California. The plant will have living quarters for engineers, […]
Remote simultaneous interpreting on Zoom video meetings and webinars
Zoom has become an essential part of our lives during the global lockdown. Families, friends, teachers, schools, government agencies and private corporations are using Zoom on a daily basis. For us, the interpreting agencies, Zoom offers another great possibility: remote language interpretation. If you have a paid Zoom account (minimum Pro account plus a webinar package), you can add simultaneous interpreting to your meetings in up to eight languages. Advanced settings of Zoom can be tricky and if you are […]
as – Misused Words
This article series aims to eliminate usage errors and help non-native speakers to write clearly and fluently. We suggest that you always do proper research and use style guides effectively. For anything you are not sure of, feel free to ask us. Misused word as Alternatives because Explanation “As” is sometimes used to mean “because.” But do not use it if there is any chance of ambiguity. In the example below, “as” could mean “because” or “when.” Example Avoid “We […]