The boundaries between formal and informal language are often blurry. Misunderstandings can arise when a language student or interpreter does not choose correctly when speaking a language that distinguishes between formal and informal personal pronouns. One runs a risk of being considered impolite on the one hand, or snobbish on the other.

The formal singular pronoun is used to express respect to an addressee, whether it is a superior, an older person, a business partner, or a new acquaintance. The informal pronoun, conversely, establishes a sense of closeness and trust among friends and relatives. There is a very special—even intimate—moment when the formal pronoun suddenly changes to its familiar form in the middle of the conversation; or there is a reverse effect of chilling distancing when the formal pronoun is uttered in place of the familiar. Interestingly, most European languages preserve the distinct forms of polite and familiar personal pronouns. In Modern English, however, the practice became largely obsolete.

A similar form of both formal and informal pronouns exists in almost every Indo-European language. Here are a few examples:

In linguistics, the practice of distinguishing personal pronouns on the basis of familiarity and social courtesy is referred to as a T-V distinction, from the first letters of Latin pronouns tu and vos. Common to most of the Indo-European languages, the formal singular pronoun derives from its plural form. Addressing someone in plural has been a universal symbol of inexorable power and authority. According to some sources, the first record of addressing a superior in plural dates back to the Roman Empire during the 4th century. Later, plural pronouns began to be commonly applied to the European aristocracy—so-called “majestic plural.”

In Old English, second-person pronouns thou and you derived from the plural ye. Originally, thou was simply a singular counterpart to ye. The Norman Conquest of 1066 AD marked the age of the French language influence on English. Thou—just like its French version tu—was used to express familiarity, affection, or even condescendence, while the plural ye was reserved for a superior during a formal address. Starting in the Middle English period (mid 15th century), ye gradually generalized to you, which became a standard in both plural and singular forms with no distinct connotation of familiarity or social distance. Thou, which was losing its prominence in the early 17th century, is still preserved in some regions of England and Scotland; it is also commonly used in religious context.

This can pose a challenge to translators and interpreters. They must be aware of the cultural and social circumstances that require a more formal tone to avoid an insulting statement and, at the same time, to avoid archaic and awkward wording. It is even more difficult to reflect the subtle nuances and shades of meaning that accompany the two forms of pronouns. One way to ameliorate the problem is to reserve to the so-called compensating translation. Using a first name or a nickname instead of honorifics or using some informal phrasing, one can “compensate” for the lost meaning or implication.

                          

A living language becomes extinct every two weeks.

The problem is often overlooked by speakers of the world’s major languages. When language extinction is considered, many otherwise thoughtful people shrug it off as a minor issue.

This might be explained by the recent development of a misguided notion (some kind of socio-Darwinian view of linguistics) that an extinct language did not survive because it could not adapt to the changing environment and was dominated by more “fit”ť languages.

Language extinction might then be written off as the result of the ‘evolutionary’ process of globalization. But this idea relies on a limited and flawed concept of language itself.

As David Harrison pointed out in his recent lecture, the loss of language diversity is not an enhancing mutation. Each death of a language is more than just a loss in terms of cultural and historic heritage — it is an irreparable loss to the database of human knowledge.

According to the recent Ethnologue report, 516 languages are classified as nearly extinct, and all of them can disappear in fewer than twenty years.

Below is a snapshot of dying languages from around the world. Each language has fewer than a hundred active speakers and is facing extinction:

The Pacific (210 Languages Nearly Extinct)

Papua New Guinea

Abom (15 speakers): Formerly spoken in a village in the Western province. After the village was abandoned, the villagers found their new home in the neighboring villages, belonging to different language areas. No children are known to speak the language.

Dumpu (ethnic population of language area is 510; number of speakers is unknown): also known as Watiwa, spoken in six villages in Madang province. Although the language was used rarely in everyday activities, it was commonly used as a “secret language” when visiting the closest town. A few children use Watiwa to communicate with their grandparents.

Gweda (26 speakers): spoken only in the village of Garuwahi, Milne Bay province. The age distribution of the speakers — ten speakers are under forty and two are under twenty years — provides hope that the language could survive.

The Americas (170 Languages Nearly Extinct)

Pacahuara (Bolivia, 17 speakers): The primary occupation of the native speakers is rubber gathering in the tropical rainforest of the Northwest Beni region.

Arikapu (Brazil, 6 speakers): a few active speakers reside in the headwaters of the Rio Branco. Most of the speakers have shifted to Portuguese.

Tataina (the U.S., 75 speakers): spoken in a small area of southern Alaska. There are some younger speakers in their twenties residing in the Lime Village but the majority of the active speakers are much older.

Asia (78 Languages Nearly Extinct)

Tirahi (Afghanistan, 100 speakers): spoken only by the elderly in the Southeastern region of Jalalabad.

Ainu (Japan, 15 speakers): spoken on the Kuril Islands and formerly on the Sahalin Island, Russia. At least 19 dialects of the language were recorded.

Africa (46 Languages Nearly Extinct)

Birale (Ethiopia, 19 speakers): spoken by the older hunters in a village on the west bank of the Weyt’o River.

El Mono (Kenya, 8 speakers): spoken in a few fishing villages located on the Southeastern shore of Lake Turkana.

Europe (12 Languages nearly extinct)

Vod (Russia, 25 speakers): belongs to the Finno-Ugric language family; spoken in several villages located in the region between Northeastern Estonia and St. Petersburg region of the Russian Federation. The language has never been written down.

Saami Pite (Sweden and Norway, 20 speakers): spoken in Lapland along the Pite river. There are no speakers left in Norway.

Karaim (ethnic population of the language area is 5,000; number of speakers is unknown): spoken by the ethnic Jewish adherents of Karaite Judaism in Crimea, Lithuania, Poland and western Ukraine. The language is completely extinct in Israel and Ukraine.

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Photo by Eric Lafforgue. His book, Papous includes other amazing photographs from Papua New Guinea.

                          

The names of certain traditional dishes can sizzle on one’s tongue, often making them difficult to capture with translation. Even if the name of the dish is easy to translate, the mixture of curiosity and suspicion that often greets the first mention of an exotic dish usually ends with one question: “What’s in it?”

Here is a list of popular dishes from around the world whose names are as fun to say as the meals are to eat:

Khachapuri [Georgia]
In Georgia, every dinner ritual begins with khachapuri — a warm, thick and flaky bread, layered with different kinds of cheeses. There is an abundance of dairy in Georgia, and some attribute the longevity of the Georgians to their high volume of yogurt consumption. The horn-full of locally produced wine is offered with khachapuri. It is a tradition to serve wine in the horn instead of the glass—as a sign of respect to his host, a guest must drink his wine without setting it aside.

Jansson’s Frestelse [Sweden]
Jansson’s Tempatation is a traditional casserole made of potatoes, onion, pickled sprats and cream. Pickled sprats, known as “ansjovis,” have often been mistranslated into English as anchovies or herring. There is a controversy over the origin of the name: some believe it is named after Pelle Janzon, a Swedish opera singer of the 19th century, who was also a famous gourmand.

Borsch [Russia]
Borsch is a traditional soup of the rich dark red color, thanks to beets and tomato paste. It was an ultimate peasant food because the soup is filling and all the ingredients are basic: besides beets and tomatoes, there are potatoes, carrots, onion, cabbage, and beans… everything is thrown together and cooked slowly in meat bullion. As the famous saying goes, not one borsch tastes the same, and housewives are reluctant to give away the secret to their special borsch. Usually, it is consumed with a splash of sour-cream, rye bread and a piece of garlic, or tiny browned garlic buns, pampushki.

Salo [Ukraine]
Simply put, salo is salted, and sometimes smoked, pork fat. It is non-rendered, unlike lard, and has almost no meat. Sometimes, the top layer is covered with spices such as pepper, paprika, or garlic powder. Salo can be consumed with a piece of dark rye bread, glass of vodka, garlic, green onions or just by itself. It is believed that, besides being exceptionally nutritional, salo is a panacea for common colds and weakened immune system. Ukrainian exaggerated love for salo is stereotyped and ridiculed: in popular folklore tales and anecdotes, the man is happy to exchange his wife for a slab of salo.

Wurst [Germany]
Wurst is a German sausage. There are approximately 1,500 different varieties of sausage, smoked or cured, plain or covered in spices. Frankfurters, or simply franks, are named after the city of Frankfurt where they originated. Brätwurst is usually served grilled or fried and derives from brät- which is chopped meat and -wurst, sausage. Weisswurst, or white sausage, is popular in Bavaria and is boiled in water, bullion or white wine. Other popular sausages are Rrindswürste, Blargenwürste, Knackwürste, and Bockwürste.

Couscous [Tunisia]
Couscous is a dish made out of finely ground wheat or semolina, steamed with spices. It is also popular in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and Lybia. The etymology of the word couscous is debatable: it may derive from the Arabic word kaskasa, “to pulverize,” or from the Arabic name for the perforated earthenware pot used to steam the couscous, called a kiskis (couscoussičre in French). Another theory postulates that couscous is onomatopoeic—it resembles the sound of the steam rising in the couscoussičre.

Chin chin [Nigeria]
Chin chin in this case is not the name of the local Chinese restaurant. It is small fried pastries, flavored with sugar and spices, popular in Nigeria and West Africa. Cut in small squares and typically shaped into bows, it is often served on the street corners and as a snack with palm wine.

Feel free to suggest your favorite international dish!

                          

A neologism (from Greek neo = “new” + logos = “word”) is a new word or expression.

Neologisms usually pertain to something topical, and they can be some of the most playful and fun words in any language.

Today, neologisms circulate faster than ever, catching-on with broader audiences through a few clicks of the mouse. Here is a list of 10 neologisms which I find funny, creative, and useful.

Sargasm
Deriving too much satisfaction from using sarcasm.

Phonundrum
Confusion a person experiences when hearing a phone ringing and wondering if it’s his or not.

Facebookicide/Facebooklift
Deliberately terminating one’s Facebook profile; Facebooklift refers to changing one’s profile picture or personal information.

Cashtration
The purchase of an unaffordable object such as a house or a car, which renders a person financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

Textrovert
A person who prefers to express his feelings via text messages because personal interaction makes him uncomfortable and self-conscious.

Truthiness
Intuitive knowledge, “gut feeling”; coined by Stephen Colbert

iPhony
A shallow person who owns an iPhone and acts in a demeaning manner towards people who do not have one.

Offsprung
An adult offspring.

Obamamania
National obsession with president-elect Barack Obama

Baldersdash
Rapidly receding hairline

In order to make this truly wiki-awesome, write in your favorites too!

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Neologism Photo courtesy of Emily Hoyer

                          

On November 15th, the U.S. celebrates America Recycles Day. Growing public awareness of environmental issues has led to much progress in recent years: Green recycling containers align along the neighborhood curbs, more college campuses are equipped with recycling bins, and reusable grocery bags are in fashion. Al Gore should be proud…

But, not as proud as he would be of the progress other countries have made in their recycling efforts: The U.S., which reuses about 28% of its waste, still lags behind Europe and some Asian countries. Language professionals like translators and interpreters often work with international businesses, government agencies, and non-profits (and some of us, like the Ecotranslator, even specialize in environmental translation services). This gives us the opportunity to observe, and share a broader perspective on environmental issues. Here’s a look at some of the recycling practices from around the world.

Germany

The Germans pride themselves as the leaders in the battle for the environment, and rightly so. The country adopted a very successful recycling system, which is also rather complicated—at least for an uninformed tourist. In order to avoid being berated for disturbing the social Ordnung, it is important to have a brief lesson about the sorting process.

First, there are bins for glass products, which must be sorted by color. Other recycling containers are also color-coded: Green bins are for all paper waste and packaging; cans, plastic, polystyrene, aluminum, and tinplate belong in the yellow bin; biological waste, such as leftover food, scraps, and peels are placed in the brown containers. The rest goes into the grey bin, unless it can be classified as “hazardous waste.” Paint cans, disinfectants, insecticides and other dangerous items are treated with an utmost care: A household receives a notice from a town council indicating the proper time and place for disposal of these items. Any large furniture pieces, like an old sofa or a broken chair, can be picked up from the curb but only at a designated time of Sonstige- or Sperrmüll (miscellaneous items) collection. And that’s not all—there is even a separate bin for batteries.

Switzerland and Denmark

In Switzerland, where handling of the world’s assets is the national industry, there is a strong financial incentive to recycle. While recycling is free and easy, in most parts of the country one has to pay for the garbage disposal. Each garbage bag must carry a special sticker, which costs about one euro, for the garbage truck to pick it up.

Denmark, considered to be the greenest of the European countries, has also adopted a very eco-friendly lifestyle. However, the country does not have its own recycling plants. How does this work? From the economic efficiency standpoint, Denmark produces too little waste per capita to justify construction and operation of recycling facilities. Plastic waste, waste from electrical and electronic equipment, batteries—items that cannot be incinerated or classified as a landfill waste—are exported for recycling abroad.

Singapore

Some argue that Singaporeans take littering a little too seriously. The country’s litter laws date back to 1968, when the authoritarian Lee Kuan Yew launched a war on litter. If you are unfortunate enough to drop a plastic bad or a cigarette bud in a public place, you will have to pay around $1,000. Plus, you will get a “community work order.” Wearing a fluorescent yellow vest, you become a “litterbug,” working with a mop to make the squeaky streets of Singapore even squeakier. Being a litterbug is condemned by society and can be especially ostracizing for the elderly citizens.
Recently, the European Union has obliged to force its member states to recycle 50% of all the household waste by 2020. The U.S. has less ambitious plans. Given a small chance that these goals will actually be achieved, the only thing that should never be recycled is empty promises.

                          

As the financial crisis gains momentum and uncertainty reigns over the markets, we tend to look at stock market behavior as a barometer of the economic environment. After yet another stock roller-coaster day, stockholders are more uncertain about tomorrow. The origin of the word stockholder has an interesting history which dates back many centuries.

The earliest system of recording bilateral exchange was a tally stick system. The technique of using a tally stick to keep track of financial transactions arose in medieval Europe in the 12th century, when King Henry I introduced tally sticks with notches of different sizes to mark denominations. The stick (usually from hazel) was split lengthwise, so that both parties had a complete record of the transaction. Later, to prevent any counterfeit, the two parts of the stick were made different in size: a lending party held the longer part of the stick, called a stock, and the receiving party held a foil, the shorter part.

So, the stockholder was the one who held a wooden stock. The king kept one part of the stick for his records, and the other part was released into the markets to circulate as money. The king also accepted tally sticks for tax payments, which insured their credibility as money. The system was very successful and lasted in England until the early 18th century. In some small European countries, it survived until the early 20th century.

If we were back in King Henry’s times, we might be throwing sticks in order to inject liquidity into the economy. In any case, sitting on our assets would be quite uncomfortable.

                          

With only a week left before the U.S. presidential election, and some poll margins beginning to narrow in, it has become increasingly important for the candidates to speak directly to a group of voters who may tip the final outcome: the nation’s more than 38 million foreign born, multilingual voters. Both candidates have made attempts to translate their messages as multilingual voter registrations reached record numbers this year. Recent polls indicate that multilingual voters share the same concerns as the general voting population, who say that the most important issues facing the country are the economy, national security, health care, and immigration.

The Spanish-speaking population is the largest growing minority group, constituting about 15 percent of the total U.S. population. Hispanic voice in past elections has been somewhat muted: many are ineligible to vote, either because they don’t have citizenship status, or because they don’t meet the age requirement. Yet they do comprise 9 percent of the eligible electorate nationwide. In fact, some political commentators argue that in this election Hispanics will emerge as a potential “swing vote” because they are strategically located in four out of six states that were very close contests in the 2004 elections (New Mexico, Florida, Nevada, and Colorado).

The results of a recent Pacific Market Research / University of Washington poll of Hispanic voters in 21 states provided good reason for democrats to be optimistic in the final stretch. Obama was the favorite among 60 percent of likely voters surveyed, while McCain was favored by 23 percent.

While Spanish speakers get a lot of the attention, they are not alone as a linguistically diverse demographic. The most common languages spoken in U.S. homes besides Spanish include—in order—Chinese, French (including Patois, Cajun), Tagalog, Vietnamese, German, Korean, Russian, Italian, and Arabic. Reaching out to these voters is not an easy task for either candidate, even as it may be a key to success on November 4th.

In some states, the candidates get help. In California, for one, the office of the Secretary of State translates voter registration documents, and provides other resources for people who speak Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Tagalog.

Candidates who embrace the international community are at a great advantage politically. Both candidates seem to recognize this—Obama and McCain’s official websites are available in Spanish translation. Obama appears to have taken the idea further. Or rather, his supporters have.

Translators for Obama is a group of volunteers who use a Wiki-style approach to translate Obama’s speeches and major statements, various articles, and his best quotes. In addition, they provide subtitling and dubbing of video clips and promotional commercials. “New Obama Videos are Available in Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and Captioned” reads the first entry on the group’s official website. Available translations are limited only by the number of languages the group members wish to contribute—and the membership continues to grow.

The Great Seal of the U.S. “E Pluribus Unum,” or “From Many, One” serves as a reminder of America’s much-prided attempt to make one unified nation of people from many different backgrounds and beliefs, seeking unity while respecting diversity. The outcome of the presidential election won’t be known until the votes are counted on November 4th, but it is clear that the candidate whose message reaches the pluribus will likely be the unum in the White House come next January.

                          

Words can be treacherous. They can have an effect that goes beyond their original meaning or intent. The terminology used during the current global financial crisis is particularly important because of the role some terms can play in reshaping and molding public opinion.

Here are several headlines that appeared in major world publications over the last month: 1929 and All That: Echoes of the Depression, Financial Meltdown Creates Panic, Is the Sun Setting on U.S. Economic Supremacy? …and perhaps the most disturbing: Financial Crisis to Increase Mental Illness.

Media outlets often bombard us with words like turmoil, disaster, recession, crisis, wreck, chaos, panic, and depression. This can shake the economic lethargy off even the most disinterested person. One study even compiles a chart of the word depression mentioned in the media, depicting a record increase in 2008. The effect is certainly depressing.

In fact, the field of economics, often refered to as “the dismal science”, has adopted a peculiar language which often is characterized as dogmatic, alienating, and even ominous.

One phrase from investors’ jargon provides an especially unsettling image: dead cat bounce. The term refers to a stock experiencing a rapid decline: like a dead cat thrown off a building, it will purportedly bounce, rising in price before a complete collapse. It is unclear whether other cultures have adopted a similar animal-unfriendly version for a badly-performing stock. Germans are the only other nation, to my knowledge, which found the cat analogy useful — Hüpfer der toten Katzen! say frustrated German investors.

In the U.S., the controversial government strategy to ameliorate the crackdown of national financial system also raises a question about underlying terminology: is the proposed action a bailout or is it a rescue? The difference is not trivial. A financial rescue sounds less catastrophic than a bailout. The word bailout has a more negative connotation, eliciting an image of a failed parent bailing out a teenager in trouble.

Another example is the word Crisis, used profusely and indiscriminately. Some analysts and commentators argue that downturn should be used instead. Since many economists agree that lack of consumer confidence is the driving engine behind the economic deterioration, evoking a sense of helplessness and hopelessness from the public conjures even less confidence, and Crisis becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Interestingly, in some languages the word crisis has a more subtle flavor. In Iceland, for instance, kreppa can be used to refer to a financial crisis or it can also mean to be “in a pinch” or “to get into a scrape.”

In Russia, which has also been severely affected by the global economic decline, the word default has resurfaced after almost 10 years. For many Russians, this term — adopted directly from English — brings back very unpleasant memories of the 1998 currency collapse. Default reminds them not of the distant 1930s but of a recent and real experience. The result is run-on-banks and widespread fear that history can repeat itself.

Language is not neutral. It always carries cultural baggage, and has great influence over the way we perceive and react to events. While economists and financial specialists argue about the correct terminology to characterize the present market environment, members of the media walk a thin line of influencing the public’s perception of economic reality. Linguists, translators, and other language professionals have an opportunity to keep people informed, lest terms like default, bailout, crisis, and dead cat bounce influence the development of real depression, in every sense of the word.

                          

When watching foreign films, I often wonder whether the translation is, in fact, accurate. Unless a viewer is a native speaker, he is at the mercy of an unknown translator. Inaccurate translation can lead to confusion, or even unintended laughter. In some cases, the trouble starts with a title. For example, in Portugal, Sofia Coppola’s acclaimed film Lost in Translation became Meetings and Failure in Meetings. In China, the French thriller Leon turned into Hit Man Is Not as Cold as He Thought. And then there’s the great American classic Home Alone which the French translated to Mom, I Missed the Plane.

Translation does not have to be literal to be correct, but it does have to attempt to convey the original idea as closely as possible. This of course introduces a good deal of subjectivity: For instance, how well does the title Wings of Desire, from the German Der Himmel Uber Berlin, literally meaning “the sky over Berlin,” capture the main idea of the film?

For another example, the Italian film entitled Uccellacci e Uccellini was officially translated into English as The Hawks and the Sparrows. Although the Italian title actually means “the big birds and the little birds,” the literal translation would sound awkward to an English-speaking audience. While, at first glance, the translation may not appear to pose any serious problems, it could be argued that the title The Hawks and the Sparrows fails to preserve one of the central ideas of the film. By introducing two different species of birds, each of which carries its own representative baggage (the hawk is a predator, while the sparrow is a humble song bird) the translator has added associations for English speaking audiences that the filmmaker may not have intended, or welcomed.

Unique cultural experiences introduce other challenges to the translation process. Some translators circumvent this issue altogether by omitting a portion of the dialogue or title. For example, a Soviet-era Christmas-time film titled Irony of Fate, which can be compared in its popularity and cultural influence to the American classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, has a longer title in Russian: Ironiya Sudby, ili S Lyogkim Parom. The second portion of the Russian title is completely omitted from the English translation. S Lyogkim Parom literally translated is “have an easy (or light) steam.” In Russia, a traditional visit to the banya, or public sauna, is a popular activity for symbolic cleansing of both mind and body. Although somewhat archaic, wishing someone “a light steam” after banya is heart-warming and jocular. Certainly, to include the expression in the English title, with the pertinent explanation, would be too confusing and verbose. But without it, the meaning is altered; or rather, ceases to exist.

Film translators must make many difficult decisions. Like all forms of translation, it is an art that must go beyond the literal rendering of words, and attempt to capture, as much as possible, the rich cultural meaning of one language with another.

                          

Not surprisingly, non-profit organizations with a global outreach are among the largest employers of translators and interpreters. However, the impact of non-profits on the translation and interpretation service industry, which relies on the existence and protection of linguistic heterogeneity, is ambiguous. There is, in fact, an interesting dichotomy: on the one hand, non-profit institutions promote preservation of multilingual diversity; on the other hand, they impede this process.

In order to understand how non-profit institutions impact the demand for translation and interpretation services we need to take a closer look at two different kinds of non-profits.

Although statistics vary, over 30,000 international non-profit organizations are registered annually around the world–25,000 of which are characterized as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and about 5,000 are intergovernmental entities (IGOs). Generally sharing humanitarian goals, NGOs and IGOs have crucial distinctions in their positions on translation and language policies. The origin of this distinction is partially ideological. The function of most IGOs, especially the ones under UN jurisdiction, is to monitor the power imbalances among various nation-states, including disputes arising from linguistic differences.

By their nature, IGOs are generally more closely aligned with central governments: they receive financial support from the ruling authorities, and in turn share government attitudes and priorities towards national language policies. IGOs are likely to advocate multilingual diversity for emblematic, rather than practical, purposes.

In the Holy Roman Empire, for example, where power was dispersed among nation-states, imperial translation played a symbolic role, uniting culturally and linguistically plural society. A more recent example can be identified in the multilingual organization of the European Union, which does not have a common language policy and adopts twenty-three languages of the member-states as its official languages. Or take the United Nations, which has 192 member states and six official languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, English, Russian and Spanish) that are not chosen for any practical purposes, but rather are representative of the various phases of the organization’s expansion.

In contrast, NGOs usually have less funding and are more concerned with efficiency and economizing on translation expenses. NGOs are less likely to have on-staff translators and interpreters. Structure and practices of international NGOs typically derive from a different ideology, where the loyalty to the common mission and purpose overrides the symbolism of “one nation, one language.”

Although there are many arguments in favor of preserving linguistic diversity in non-profit institutions, more often than not, pragmatic concerns — usually in favor of financial efficiency — take priority.