Search
Close this search box.

Blog Posts

Category: Language and Culture

Is Machine Translation Ready to Replace Human Translators?

Continued improvements in machine translation technology have made a big splash in the news lately. The launch of Skype Translator in 2015, as well as the advent of wearable devices for sign language interpretation, are indicative of an exciting new...

Learn More

Holistic Approach to Accent Reduction

The United States has long attracted many of the world’s brightest minds – from scientists and engineers to linguists and educators. While the country’s universities and businesses benefit from such a dazzling array of experts, foreign professionals and students often...

Learn More

Number of Languages Remains A Mystery

You’d think that one of the fundamental questions linguists would have sorted out by know is how many languages there are. I thought that too before I studied to become one. Quantifying languages is much more complicated than it initially...

Learn More

O Rio? 4 Places in the Americas Named By Mistake

Rio de Janeiro’s time in the global spotlight is nearly over. Rio, one of Brazil’s jewels — world heritage site, protected by Christ the Redeemer, so named for its grand river that … wait, what? Yes, its explorers mistook its...

Learn More

Shemps, MacGuffins, and Alan Smithee: 10 Movie Terms You’ve Just Got to Read About

What happens when you combine lush greenery, a low cost of doing business, and a bevy of targeted tax incentives? You get a booming film industry that made a statewide economic impact of $6 billion in 2015, for one. It’s...

Learn More

Linguist Reveals How We Totes Abbreve

As a linguist I can attest to how rewarding it is to be the first to research a topic, and how ridic fun it is for my barely-concealed inner nerd to describe internet speech and slang with formal terminology. Lauren...

Learn More

Brexit Won’t Force English Out of the EU

Amid the flurry of activity in the weeks after Brexit, with markets panicking and the major UK political parties facing monumental power changes, it was surprising and refreshing to see a translation and interpretation topic rise briefly to the top...

Learn More

8 Unique Careers for Translators and Interpreters

Are you interested in becoming a medical interpreter? Sign up Now and get started. Over the course of their training and work experience, language professionals amass an almost superhuman array of skills. Translators and interpreters, in particular, learn to apply...

Learn More

6 Major Moments in Translation and Interpretation History

From the Tower of Babel to the Age of the Internet, translators and interpreters have had a seat at the table in every major event in history. And yet, by virtue of the very role they play in enabling other...

Learn More

Can Untranslatable Words Make Us Happier?

The idea of untranslatability is captivating for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the chance to try on another culture’s way of experiencing the world. As the popular anecdote goes, how does an Eskimo or Inuit...

Learn More

Paths to Success in Medical Interpretation: An Interview with Professional Interpreter and Breaking Boundaries in Healthcare Instructor, Stephanie Wiley

Stephanie Wiley is a professional interpreter and instructor for the Breaking Boundaries in Healthcare® course. Stephanie was kind to sit down with us and share some of her insight on medical interpretation and tips for being a successful medical interpreter....

Learn More

7 Questions to a Linguist: William Labov and the False Idols of Language

In today’s 7 Questions to a Linguist, we hear from a towering figure in the field of linguistics, Dr. William Labov. Labov’s scholarly work over the past 50 years has garnered him the moniker “father of sociolinguistics”, and it is...

Learn More

Preparing for your test?

View our test prep materials or FAQ’s for common questions about taking a test.