Blog
Well Begun is Half Done is TRUE…FOR THE TRANSLATOR SELECTION PROCESS
We all know them, and every language has them - proverbs, axioms, words to live by, and the scholarly "aphorisms." However, from Grade Two to freshmen in college, we are persuaded and finally convinced these maxims do not enhance our composition and writing efforts, but they make our essays trite and stale, except for one blaring fact: Most of these expressions are universally true![...]
Interview with Apex’s Star Spanish Translator
We at Apex are very proud of our highly trained translators and linguists. We thought you'd like to know some of our translators on a personal level - how languages formed their careers, how education played a role, what travels they've experienced, their mentors or teachers, interests, hobbies, and other talents. We've discovered our translators lead very interesting lives, the very opposite of hum-drum.[...]
New English Words Are Added to Merriam Webster Dictionary to begin 2015
We at Apex Translations monitor all new word additions to English dictionaries which endeavor to herald a new year's beginning with often-used parts of speech which denote current, if not up-to-the-minute, English phrasings, salutations, and internet slang. Click on the following link to glimpse a few: http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-selfie-tweep-new-words-websters-dictionary-20140519-story.html Along with new dictionary additions selfie, g'day, hashtag, and digital divide, one could hardly escape note of[...]
How do we find the best translators?
The above question is not only asked by a competent translation agency, but also by presidents, governmental ministers and leaders of nations, monarchs, patent attorneys, corporate CEOs who guide global businesses, medical and pharmaceutical professionals, ambassadors, diplomats, universities, educators, journalists, press secretaries, travel guides and authorities, writers, musicians, artists, poets, and even actors and actresses. (Think international cinema and those oh-so-necessary subtitles.) One could[...]
It’s Beginning to Look Like…….Flag Day, Fourth of July, Festivities…and Standards!
June-July, 2014 It's hard to believe that America continues to carry on patriotic traditions that were born long ago, but we Americans like to remind ourselves of freedom, flags, (Old Glory, that is), and firecrackers. Underneath all the frivolity, however, the average American heart never fails to be stirred by a mid-summer parade right down Main Street, Elm Street, Washington Street, First Street, Oak[...]
There Is a Cost for Mistranslations, Historical Costs…
In the course of history, translators have made errors, some more consequential than others. A few have had serious, adverse effects. Obviously, some inaccurate translations have resulted in hilarious nonsense we often read in day-to-day life, such as in manuals, textbooks, menus, maps, print advertisements, or even traffic signs. Sometimes, more often than not, there are serious linguistic blunders with global consequences. The following[...]
Apex Just Won’t Let It Go . . .
This year’s Academy Award-winning song, Let It Go, is a popular, worthy, albeit hum-able tune, but at Apex Translations, we (our translating staff, linguists, proofreaders, and editors) will hardly let your document go without extensive examination that every translation benchmark has been met or even surpassed. As seen in the video below, a genius rendition of a multi-language translation of the theme song of Frozen, created, produced, and helmed by[...]
Apex Translation Services – an Olympic Athlete!
The Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, are nearing to its opening ceremony this week. Symbols of this international occasion have been slow to rear their heads, but after many submissions of what the Sochi mascot should be – the winners have been announced. Yes, there are winners: a polar bear, a snow leopard, and an arctic hare. Why so many? Here is a[...]
Happy New Year from Apex Translation Services
Whenever we receive a translation request from one language to English, there is one revered reference our Apex translators value and use above all others - the OED. Most people are not acquainted with the O-E-D, the Oxford English Dictionary, the time-honored written authority on recording the English language since 1884. As this blog has stated before, language, and (especially the English language) is[...]
Foreign Language Speech Writing
One of our employees recently shared the following story about a young girl from Belgium attending high school. She had trouble speaking English but she did well in other courses. When she was called upon to present her own writing orally, tears soon moistened her rosy cheeks. Knowledgeable, but uncertain of word placement and pronunciation, she was understandably frustrated. Thankfully, the one and only[...]