ALTA Language Services https://www.altalang.com Professional Translation, Language Testing, and Language Training Thu, 03 Sep 2020 16:38:11 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.1 https://cdn.altalang.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/cropped-alta-favicon-512x512-32x32.png ALTA Language Services https://www.altalang.com 32 32 What Is Aviation English? https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/what-is-aviation-english/ https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/what-is-aviation-english/#respond Thu, 03 Sep 2020 15:27:47 +0000 https://www.altalang.com/?p=23380 If “pilot speak” sounds like another language to you, you’re not far off. Aviation English is the internationally-established language of the skies, consisting of about three hundred terms that are a combination of professional jargon and plain English. With the expansion of air travel during...

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]]> https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/what-is-aviation-english/feed/ 0 The 5 Easiest Languages for English Speakers to Learn https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/the-5-easiest-languages-for-english-speakers-to-learn/ https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/the-5-easiest-languages-for-english-speakers-to-learn/#respond Tue, 25 Aug 2020 14:00:41 +0000 https://www.altalang.com/?p=23337 If you’re thinking about learning a new language, it can be tricky to know where to start. Do you want to go for something that’s widely-spoken like Spanish, a business-relevant language like Chinese, or a language that’s interesting to you based on personal heritage or...

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]]> https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/the-5-easiest-languages-for-english-speakers-to-learn/feed/ 0 8 Examples of Outdated Slang We Should Bring Back https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/8-outdated-slang/ https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/8-outdated-slang/#respond Wed, 29 Jul 2020 20:42:07 +0000 https://www.altalang.com/?p=23335 Don’t get salty, but slang isn’t new. You might think the idioms you use today are the GOAT, but they could easily go out of fashion in just a few years. Phrases, just like fitness or food trends, come and go. Let’s look at 8...

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]]> https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/8-outdated-slang/feed/ 0 Want to Enhance Your Listening Comprehension? Turn on Your TV Captions https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/listening-comprehension-captions/ https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/listening-comprehension-captions/#respond Thu, 23 Jul 2020 14:00:29 +0000 https://www.altalang.com/?p=23333 Watching foreign language programming can feel like swimming against the current. The unfamiliar words keep coming and coming, and just when you feel like you’re beginning to get the hang of it, a particularly speedy bout of dialogue sends your head spinning again. If you...

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]]> https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/listening-comprehension-captions/feed/ 0 The Language of COVID-19: Masculine or Feminine? https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/languages-gendering-covid-19/ https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/languages-gendering-covid-19/#respond Thu, 02 Jul 2020 14:00:39 +0000 https://www.altalang.com/?p=23324 If you have ever studied French, Spanish, or German, you’ve learned about a tricky linguistic nuance that makes learning these languages difficult: noun gendering. In these languages, each noun has an assigned grammatical gender. In Spanish, for example, a mug is feminine. But the coffee...

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]]> https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/languages-gendering-covid-19/feed/ 0 3 Tips for Making the Transition to Remote Interpreting https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/transition-to-remote-interpreting/ https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/transition-to-remote-interpreting/#respond Wed, 17 Jun 2020 20:29:19 +0000 https://www.altalang.com/?p=23317 The COVID-19 pandemic has moved many American workers out of their offices. In early March, an estimated 16 million U.S workers switched to working remotely. Many experts suggest that remote work will remain long after the pandemic is over. Tech companies like Facebook, Square, and...

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]]> https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/transition-to-remote-interpreting/feed/ 0 5 Fascinating Facts about the Icelandic Language https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/5-fascinating-facts-about-the-icelandic-language/ https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/5-fascinating-facts-about-the-icelandic-language/#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2020 14:00:48 +0000 https://www.altalang.com/?p=23305 Iceland is a small island nation in the North Atlantic Ocean that is home to about 340,000 people. The Icelandic people trace their origins to Northern Germanic ethnic groups. Only about 350,000 people speak Icelandic worldwide. Most native speakers live in Iceland, but others live...

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]]> https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/5-fascinating-facts-about-the-icelandic-language/feed/ 0 The Danger of False Cognates in Healthcare https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/false-cognates-healthcare/ https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/false-cognates-healthcare/#comments Mon, 25 May 2020 14:00:15 +0000 https://www.altalang.com/?p=23293 Learning a language is full of excitement, frustration and many times, embarrassment. This was perfectly illustrated to me one day when a coworker of mine, Clara, who was in the process of learning Spanish, was doing her best to make small talk with a Spanish-speaking...

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]]> https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/false-cognates-healthcare/feed/ 1 Meet the Schwa, the Best Friend You Never Knew You Had https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/meet-the-schwa/ https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/meet-the-schwa/#comments Mon, 18 May 2020 14:00:04 +0000 https://www.altalang.com/?p=23284 English speakers use the schwa all the time. It’s our most popular vowel sound, and yet we don’t have any written symbol that corresponds to it. That’s because English spelling – a topic I love to rant and rave about – is a very poor...

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]]> https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/meet-the-schwa/feed/ 1 How much money do translators make? https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/how-much-money-do-translators-make/ https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/how-much-money-do-translators-make/#respond Fri, 08 May 2020 14:00:43 +0000 https://www.altalang.com/?p=23272 If you are fluent in more than one language, your job prospects as a translator — converting written text from one language to another — are growing at a rapid clip in the U.S. market. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number...

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