Lessons from a Graduate Student in Translation
“To be an interpreter, you have to be weird.” That was among the first pieces of advice I was given upon arriving in Monterey, California, to study Russian Translation and Interpretation (T&I). One month ago, your faithful Beyond Words writer packed her bags and headed cross-country to begin a two-year master’s course in Russian T&I […]
Simultaneous Interpretation: Interview with TEDx Interpreter Lu Ye
In April, Monterey, California, hosted its first TEDx event. The TEDx program is an offshoot of the yearly Technology Entertainment and Design conference. TEDx events are independently organized by local communities. Notably, TEDxMonterey featured live audio in 8 different languages including Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, French, German and Korean. Students from the Monterey Institute […]
Chew the Fat: A Look at Cockney Rhyming Slang
Chew the fat is a colloquial phrase meaning “to talk or discuss informally, or to talk at length on a variety of subjects.” The phrase has been in use since the early 19th century. There is some debate as to the origin of the term. While some etymologists argue that it is a variation of […]
Scholarships and Grants for Language and Translation Students
Obtaining a degree in the field of translation/interpretation can be a grueling and costly process. Top U.S. universities like the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and top-tier schools with degree-seeking programs in this field, like Georgetown and Stanford University, have yearly tuitions exceeding $30,000, and relatively few slots available for highly competitive merit-based scholarships. But […]
Naming Cars: The Etymology of Automobiles
On March 21, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta will begin a three month exhibition about car design in the context of various art movements throughout the last century. The Allure of the Automobile will feature some of the rarest cars from the 1930s to the mid-1960s. In reference to the upcoming exhibit, we […]
Mambo Italiano: Musical Terms of Italian Origin
The bulk of the terminology used to describe musical components comes to us from the Italian language. The 18th- and 19th- century heyday of opera and classical string and brass music took place, with notable exceptions, in Italy, and the terms currently used by classical musicians reflect the influence of the Italian language. Below are […]
10 Confusing English Words and How to Conquer Them
Whether it’s a matter of difficult spelling or multiple meanings, these ten words pose a degree of difficulty to a great many English speakers. Below you will find their definitions, with a rundown of ways to make sure you will never have a problem telling them apart. SYMPATHY and EMPATHY The word “sympathy” has been […]
More Gift Ideas for Language Lovers
Last year, Beyond Words brought you a December article filled with affordable gift ideas for language-lovers. Below is an updated list of ideas to satisfy the linguaphiles on your shopping list this holiday season. Body Language Cards This fun, and sometimes inadvertently funny, flashcards promise to unlock the secrets of human body language, and even […]
The Most Popular Words of the Decade
Unfriend n. To remove a contact from your network on a social networking site, such as Facebook. The verdict is in: the New Oxford American Dictionary’s 2009 Word of the Year is “unfriend.” This transitive verb – as social networking site users and non-users alike might know – means to remove a “friend” from an […]
Pays d’Oc, Pays d’Oïl, Pays de Sì: A History of Romance Languages Through the Word Yes
Although not his most famous work, one of Dante Alighieri’s most important ones was a composition entitled De Vulgari Eloquentia (On Eloquence in the Vernacular or Concerning Vernacular Eloquence), in which the author discusses the development of the Romance languages. He divides Europe into three portions: to the north, the Germanic languages; to the east, […]