There are over 7,000 languages spoken world-wide, at least half of the world’s population are bilingual and countless words are being added to dictionaries across the world every year. Language is alive! Here at Dialogue, we work with over 200 languages and our in-house team are proud to be able to speak an impressive 8 different languages from Italian to Polish, German to Russian!
Language is constantly evolving. Did you know that last year alone, over 3,000 words were added to the Oxford English Dictionary? Here are some of my favourites from 2022:
Fluffernutter
For all the people with a sweet tooth out there, this is a very American snack made by mixing peanut butter (of course) and marshmallow spread between two slices of white bread. Yum…
Dine-and-dasher
You can probably guess this one; a person who dines in a restaurant then dashes off without paying the bill. Anyone come to mind?
Birdo
Not a weirdo, a birdo. Aka, my mum – an avid birdwatcher. I was once woken up by my mum at 5am and dragged out of bed to go and see this rare bird she’d spotted in the garden. By the time I got downstairs, I could only see a couple of pigeons…
Doomscrolling
Something I think I have mastered over the last two years in particular. It’s the art of endlessly scrolling through depressing news stories online and constantly checking for updates, despite knowing that any new news isn’t going to be good news.
That last new entry is a real sign of the times we live in. Language is ever evolving and adapting to keep up with these changing times. So many words were added to the dictionary during the pandemic that just weren’t a thing before 2020: lateral flows, antivaxxer, super-spreader, coronacoaster. Likewise, other words resurfaced or grew in popularity: a staycation, self-isolation and hydroxychloroquine – the latter brought back into use thanks to a certain US ex-president.
At Dialogue, we are also committed to changing with the times. We are now working remotely, using the latest translation technology, launching our very-own online-learning platform (Kudos – check it out!) and branching out into transcreation. It’s safe to say that Dialogue has a growth mindset; we adapt the way we work to make our business more effective and our clients all the more satisfied. One of our company’s values is that learning is for life – if you don’t move forwards, you fall behind.
How we can help you at Dialogue
That’s why you can be sure to entrust us with your translation and training needs. In all of our work, we go the extra mile to make sure that our services meet your requirements, even if that means taking a brand-new approach to the task at hand. We are not a one-size-fits-all company, and we aim to establish a conversation – communication on a level playing field. Our excellent team of linguists will work with you to pick out just the right words for your translation and ensure that you reach the correct target audience, taking into account different language varieties.
Fun fact – Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese are more dissimilar than Spanish and Italian! So, if you want a consultation on how to tap into the current global market, you need help localising your translation or discerning whether to translate into German or Swiss German or one of 20 Arabic dialects, then give us a call – we’d be happy to help!