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Language Lines, July 2009
 From the Editor
Welcome to our July edition of Language Lines.
This month's topics include learning capabilities of bilinguals, video game globalization, healthy ways to keep the mind focused during tasks, and funny international business signs.
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FEATURED ARTICLES
Bilinguals make better language learners
Bilinguals may eventually become a worldwide majority, and their facility for learning languages means they’ll have an easier time learning foreign languages than those who speak only one language. Recent research from Northwestern University demonstrates that true bilinguals - people who grow up speaking two languages - have a natural capacity to learn other foreign languages quickly. In fact, their brain may even function differently as a result of continual bilingual input and output.
In an article entitled Northwestern professor’s research shows advantages of bilingualism, health and science reporter Sarah K. Norris explains how Northwestern researcher Viorica Marian studied three groups: one set of English-only speakers, and two sets of bilinguals, one Spanish-English and one Mandarin-English.
When asked to learn an imaginary language, the bilingual subjects mastered vocabulary far more quickly than their monolingual counterparts.
“The recent study has only inspired more research questions and possibilities for Marian’s work,” explains Norris. “Now the question is not if people who know two languages learn words more easily than others, but why?”
Marian has a theory: bilingual learners are likely better at “suppressing” mother tongue interference that prevents people from shifting easily between idioms. However, further research is needed to elucidate the topic.
At any rate, the increase in bilinguals all over the world may help ease the translator/interpreter shortage that has become problematic in many arenas.
Betty Carlson
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Video game packaging adapted to target cultures
When moving into a foreign market, every aspect of a product launch must be fine-tuned to fit the local culture. Packaging and graphics are no exception.
An article by Andy Robinson on the Games Radar site provides some intriguing visual examples of how video games are packaged differently depending on the target market. This “box art” varies from country to country, much as website design must also take into account the visual tastes of target consumers.
“Box Art: Lost in Translation” explains – and shows — how American video game box graphics are more straightforward, whereas Asian and European packaging leans to the artsy side. “And here’s the first rule they teach you in games packaging school: only Japanese and PAL box arts can be artistic/moody - American box art must be to the point and ALWAYS facing forwards,” writes Robinson.
In some of the examples shown, such as Sony’s “artistically brilliant” Ico, the American video game box design differs totally from the original Japanese version. Video game purists may cringe at such modifications, but international marketers no doubt have their reasons for the changes.
In the rapidly changing global marketplace, companies must be able to reach out to potential clients in a culturally appropriate manner. Language Translation Inc. in San Diego, California can help your firm choose appropriate language services for international product launches, website localization and language translation projects.
Betty Carlson
TIPS & TIDBITS
How to Keep Your Mind from Growing Old
We are constantly bombarded with advertisements promising us products for keeping our bodies looking young. But… What about our minds? Should we just assume that there’s no way to keep our minds getting old? Well, before you let this get you down, science has a bit of good news for bilingual people: it appears that having the possibility of communicating in two languages may help us fight “mental aging.” A recent psychological study discovered that compared to people who speak only one language, bilingual people have a greater ability to stay focused on a task in the midst of a constantly changing environment. This ability to stay focused, to find meaning in the madness and solve problems is known as “fluid intelligence,” and is one of the first brain functions to weaken as we get older. Researchers suggest that the ability to stay focused and concentrate on the task at hand while ignoring unnecessary information may be involve some of the same brain processes associated with using multiple languages.
The dictionary defines a bilingual person as someone who is able to communicate in more than one language, be it actively (oral and written) or passively (reading and listening comprehension). I have a preference for the definition that a very intelligent Engineer who spoke Spanish and English gave me several years ago: “People often ask those of us who speak two languages which language we think in. Being bilingual is first thinking, having an idea (or a question, answer or comment) shaped in your brain, and then deciding which language to say it in, because it’s all the same to us to use either one.”
Source Spanish Translation.US
JUST FOR FUN (Humor)
Trivia: funny translations
'Lost in Translation'
The verb "to translate" originates from the Latin Tra-duco, literally to bring from one place to another, to transport. To transport the meaning from one language to another. But one must be careful not to lose, during the passage, important “pieces” of the meaning that are being transported. TraduzioniPro pays close attention not to lose these important elements—otherwise, you would run the risk of not communicating exactly what you mean.
On the shop window of an Italian store in Rome:
An erroneous English translation reads: “FREE ENTRANCE”.
Its erroneous Italian translation would be: “ENTRATA GRATUITA”.
The correct English translation should have been: “BROWSERS WELCOME”.
The correct Italian translation would then become: “ENTRATA LIBERA”.
In a Roman gynaecological office practise:
An erroneous English translation reads: "Specialist in women and other diseases".
Its erroneous Italian translation would be: "Specialista in donne e altre malattie".
The correct English translation should have been: "Specialist in women's diseases".
The correct Italian translation would then become: "Specialista delle malattie femminili".
In a Norwegian cocktail bar:
An erroneous English translation reads: “Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar”.
Its erroneous Italian translation would be: “Si prega le signore di non avere figli al bar”.
The correct English translation should have been: “Ladies are requested not to bring children to the bar”.
The correct Italian translation would then become: “Si prega le signore di non portare bambini al bar”.
On the menu of a Swiss restaurant:
An erroneous English translation reads: “Our wines leave you nothing to hope for”.
Its erroneous Italian translation would be: “I nostri vini non ti lasciano nessuna speranza”.
The correct English translation should have been: “Our wines leave you hoping for nothing else”.
The correct Italian translation would then become: “I nostri vini non hanno nulla da invidiare”.
Source Traduzioni Pro
For more news about languages, translation and localization, and international business, visit our news blog, updated three times a week. For previous newsletters, visit our archive. You may have our newsletter delivered to your inbox each month by subscribing to Language Lines.
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