Does the Swiss Language Really Exist?
Swiss Language | Swiss German
Do you know what the official language of Switzerland is? It is a tricky question, as there are 4: German, French, Italian and Rhaeto-Rumantsch. Given the small country, 4 official languages seem like a lot. However, the languages vary greatly in the number of speakers: Rhaeto-Rumantsch is spoken by only 0.5% in a few regions in eastern Switzerland, Italian by 6.5% mainly south of the Alps, and French by 20.4% in the western part of the country. (more…)
Particularity of the Korean Language
Korean Language | An Appropriate Translation For “You”
In Korean language there is no appropriate way to address someone older than yourself as ‘you’. ‘You’ in Korean language is either ‘nu’ (rhymes with ‘the’) or ‘ja-ne’, both of which are informal and are only to be used among peers. There is also the more formal ‘dangshin’, which is more often than not used by mature married couples. Neither of them should ever be used with a stranger as it would be insulting or just plain strange. Thus, speaking to people can prove to be a challenge, as one must always use the third person when addressing them. This is fine as long as you know their name or their title (teacher, manager, CEO), or if it is appropriate to address them as Sir or Ms. and the like. However, other times this lack of a suitable word can lead to unnecessary awkwardness. (more…)
Quechua Language, The Language of the Incas
The Quechua Language
With 25 million speakers, Quechua language is spoken in ten countries in Latin America (is an official language in three of them), and was once the language of the great Inca Empire. But unfortunately not many people know a lot about it.
Irish Language Today: A Glowing Ember is Easily Rekindled
Today, only a few outposts of the Celtic languages group remain, including the Irish language. However, of the six living Celtic languages, only Welsh is not classified as “endangered” by UNESCO.
What do you know about Kurdish Language?
Do you know anything about Kurdish Language? Did you know that there are several Kurdish dialects, and that speakers of these dialects cannot easily understand one another.
Spanglish: Is U.S. Spanish a Language?
English, Spanish, or U.S. Spanish | Spanglish
We know that immigrant groups that have been established in the United States for a long period of time often take their native language and begin to adapt and mix it with that of their host country. When a large group of immigrants accepts these words as part of their every day vocabulary, the language may evolve into a new language, and eventually an official language. Is this the case for U.S. Spanish?
Back to the Frozen North: Yup’ik Language Revisited
Recently we were asked to perform a translation for a language that we had never encountered before – the Yup’ik language. In the research stage of providing translation services for our client, we learned quite a bit about the Yupik people, Yupik culture, and of course Yup’ik words…
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The Navajo Language: The Unbreakable Code of WWII
Sir We Need a Plan!
During World War II, the ability to communicate maneuvers and planned attacks became absolutely vital. With the Germans and Japanese deciphering multiple codes to gain a militaristic advantage, when the United States entered the war it became clear that they would need to use a language that was basically unknown to the enemy. This helped bring about the concept of using Native American languages on the battlefield. During World War I, U.S. regiments had experimented with the Native American Choctaw language, using it as a code against the Germans in numerous planned attacks. But after World War I, Germany and Japan sent students to study Native American languages, making it impossible to use this coding system during World War II. When the United States entered World War II in the winter of 1941, the idea of code talkers seemed to be a dream of the past. Luckily, there was one language that had been overlooked: Navajo.
The Epic of Old English – Part 2
The Epic of Old English – Part 2
(Click here for Part 1)
In 1066, the Battle of Hastings ensued. It was a war between the Duke of Normandy and the people of England. William II, otherwise known as William the Conqueror, wanted to become King of England in order to add to his royal titles. He won the final battle at Hastings, and became the King of England while still maintaining his title as Duke of Normandy. After he conquered England, he brought his Norman-French family and friends to England and established an aristocracy. With it, he brought Old Norman French, Old English’s new enemy. The two languages did not start out as friends nor would they ever be friends. But Old Norman French forced herself into Old English’s territory and found a way to be number one. Through the next three to four centuries, an English-Norman French royal line was established and with it, a new prestigious language, Old Norman French.
The royal family prospered as they maintained a hold of Normandy and England and continued to conquer surrounding areas such as Wales and Ireland. Old Norman French was the language spoken by less people in comparison to Old English. However, because the aristocracy was largely Norman French, they dictated which language was more important and prestigious. All the peasants were Anglo-Saxon and therefore spoke Old English, but their status was slowly being diminished. In order to communicate, the Norman French had to learn some Old English, and vice versa. Words of government and law such as royal, state, jury, and judge were introduced.
In the 12th century, King John, the youngest son of King Henry II, ascended to the throne as King of England and Duke of Normandy. He was the only surviving offspring of his parents. But there were still other branches of his extended family that claimed they should have the throne. Having two titles over two different parts of Europe also added to the confusion of who was to ascend the throne. When King John won, his cousin, Arthur, decided to wage war against him for taking the throne. Through a series of battles and wars, King John lost all the land he possessed in Normandy as well as his title. As a result, he was called King John Lackland because of his lack of land. Adding insult to injury, King John shamelessly had affairs with other noblewomen enraging their husbands. With strained relations between the Norman French and English, a clear separation of the two areas was forming. Additionally, in 1244, it became illegal to own land in both England and France. The Anglo-Saxons were beginning to take pride in their language and thus began growth of Old English into Middle English.
Despite the condescension that was placed upon Old English by Old Norman French, Old English made it out of the wars and struggles alive, but in a new and reinvented way. Middle English was her new name and it was starkly different from Old English. She had fewer case endings for nouns and adjectives and new demonstratives such as this/that. Endings for verbs were simplified so that there were fewer to use. Because of the loss of endings, prepositions, demonstratives, and articles came about and were grammaticized into the language. As a result, word order began to play a role in the grammar of Middle English. In the place of subjunctives, modals such as would and could were being used. The use of double negatives became more prominent and was widely accepted. And now that the Anglo-Saxons and Norman-French were separated, English was encouraged for use in parliament and all areas of government. In fact, the king himself, King Henry III, encouraged the use of Middle English.
In 1476, the printing press was invented creating an avenue for Middle English to be thrust into the spotlight. Writers such as Chaucer could have their literature published further fostering the growth of Middle English and building prestige. By 1500, the most radical morphological and syntactic changes were essentially over and thus began a new era, and a new name, Modern English. Stay tuned for next month’s final installment of The Epic of English – Part 3!
About Language Connections:
Language Connections is one of the top language service companies in the US. Over the last 30 years, we’ve focused on providing the best business translation services, interpreting services, as well as interpreter training and customized language training programs. In addition to top-tier corporate language training, we offer certified corporate interpreters and professional business translation services in 200+ languages. Our network includes linguists with backgrounds in all major industries. They’re ready to meet your needs, whether they’re for technical translation services, legal translation, government translation services, international development translation services, education translation services, life sciences translation, or something else. Reach out to us today for a free quote on our cost-efficient and timely translation services, interpreters, or other linguistic services.
Language Connections Inc.
2001 Beacon Street, Suite 105,
Boston, MA 02135
Phone: +1-617-731-3510
Email: service@languageconnections.com
The Epic of Old English – Part 1
There was once a language called Old English. Contrary to what it may seem, she wasn’t old at the time. In fact, she was born from languages of Indo-European roots around the 5th century. That was when Germanic tribes decided to migrate to the islands where the Celts, previously ruled by the Romans (explaining early Latin influence), were living. Thus, she originated from a melding of dialects in the Germanic and Celtic language families under Roman rule. Between the 5th and 10th centuries, she matured into a fully functional and grammatically sound language, and became the language of the Anglo-Saxons who occupied the British Isles.
By simply interacting, Old English adopted and fused her sounds and words with other languages and cultures. For a couple of centuries, the Germanic and Celtic tribes co-existed alongside one another while the Romans continued occupation. As a result, Old English became friends with languages of the Celtic tribes and also gained some early Latin loan words from the occupying Roman culture. For example, words starting with the letter “v” such as veal, vase, virtue were added to Old English’s lexicon from Latin. Men from Germanic tribes joined the Roman army putting them in daily contact with Roman soldiers. Borrowings from Celtic languages were mainly names and locations such as Avon, Dover, and Dorchester. As a result, new sounds from new words affected Old English and over time, she began to undergo many phonological changes such as voicing and palatalization. However, despite the exposure to new languages and cultures, Old English maintained her strong Germanic roots and consequently still used many Germanic words and grammatical systems.
During the 8th and 9th century, the Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish people began to migrate to various locations in Europe including the British Isles. As more and more Scandinavian groups came, the Anglo-Saxons became discontent. King Alfred, who was the ruler of the Anglo-Saxons in the region of Wessex during the 9th century, chose to defend all territories on the British Isles and became known as King Alfred the Great. At the end of battle, a law called “Danelaw” was established which allowed the Danes to stay in the northern territories of the British Isles, but if they chose to settle in the southern portion, they had to learn the language and culture of the Anglo-Saxons and assimilate. Thus, Old English had frequent interactions with the language of the Danes who settled on their land. The additional presence of Old Norse, the language the Scandinavians spoken during this time, passed on many words such as “skirt” and other words starting with “sk.” Old English also gained more words starting with the “th” sound as she got to know Old Norse. As the Danes settled, the mixing of the two languages contributed to the growth of Old English.
After his victory, King Alfred made sure that Old English was preserved by translating Latin documents into his beloved mother tongue. King Alfred’s drive to record as much as he could is largely why today we can dive into Old English’s journey and chart the phonetic syntactic changes she endured. She carried inflections and case, or endings that were attached to nouns, verbs and adjectives to denote meaning, a mechanism that has largely been lost in her prodigy, Modern English. For example, alfred cyning means “King Alfred.” To indicate that something is given to him, Old English uses the Dative Case ending turning alfred cyning into alfrede cyninge.
The Danes and the Anglo-Saxons eventually began to inter-marry and all was peaceful in the land where Old English prospered. However, that did not stop other kings and their languages from trying to conquer the British Isles. Eagerness for power and royal recognition impassioned rulers to claim thrones that they saw as their own through intermarrying of monarchies. Old English was threatened when William II, the Duke of Normandy, decided to invade England to claim what he thought was rightfully his. The Norman Conquest was won by the Duke in 1066 at the bloody Battle of Hastings. Old English was about to face a battle of prestige as the Norman French took hold of their newly conquered land. Which language would the people choose? Would Old French choose to intermingle with Old English or would Old French force herself upon Old English? Find out what happens to Old English in next month’s Language of the Month: The Epic of English -Part 2!
(Click here for Part 2)
About Language Connections:
Language Connections is one of the top language service companies in the US. Over the last 30 years, we’ve focused on providing the best business translation services, interpreting services, as well as interpreter training and customized language training programs. In addition to top-tier corporate language training, we offer certified corporate interpreters and professional business translation services in 200+ languages. Our network includes linguists with backgrounds in all major industries. They’re ready to meet your needs, whether they’re for technical translation services, legal translation, government translation services, international development translation services, education translation services, life sciences translation, or something else. Reach out to us today for a free quote on our cost-efficient and timely translation services, interpreters, or other linguistic services.
Language Connections Inc.
2001 Beacon Street, Suite 105,
Boston, MA 02135
Phone: +1-617-731-3510
Email: service@languageconnections.com