Latest Hottest Topics About Languages

Universities to Expect a Loss of £460m From Decline Of East Asia Students

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 05:40:05 GMT

Universities in the UK will need to be prepared for facing a sharp decline in the number of new international students for the 2020/2021 term. The expected loss from east Asia students alone would amount up to £460m.

According to a survey done by the British Council, nearly 14,000 students from eight countries such as China and Malaysia are likely to go to the UK in 2020/21 in the wake of the pandemic.

The decline of 20% in students from east Asia would amount to a 12% fall in overall international student numbers. On top of that, 29% of prospective students are likely to delay or cancel their plans to study while postgraduate applicants said they would rather postpone the start of their studies until January 2021 than begin with online teaching in autumn.

The British Council suggested the sector may take three or four years to recover from the shock of Covid-19.

As an effort to reduce the loss, higher education minister, Michelle Donelan told a British Council summit on Friday that the UK government was “working very hard to ensure that international students do not have to jump through hoops to come here” and promised that immigration regulations would be “as flexible as they can be”.

Read more in the link below:

Russian Parliament Emphasise on Enshrining Russian Language Status in Country's Constitution

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Sun, 07 Jun 2020 05:21:04 GMT

In light of the Russian Language Day yesterday (June 6), State Duma (the lower house of parliament) Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin emphasised on the importance of the language’s status in the country’s Constitution.

"The constitutional amendments that will be put to a nationwide vote on July 1 for the first time point out that Russian is the state language of the Russian Federation as the language of the state-forming nation, which is part of a multinational union of equal peoples," he said.

Volodin also added that the need to preserve and develop the Russian language is important for maintaining unity, aside from it being the nation’s common treasure in representing cultural and spiritual heritage.

On top of this, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin also highlighted the increase in number of people interested in picking up the language in a statement made yesterday.

The Russian Language Day is celebrated on June 6 yearly. It was established by the United Nations in 2010. The day also marks the birthday of Russian poet Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837).

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Studying Longer Reduces Memory Loss Later in Life

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Sat, 06 Jun 2020 06:55:49 GMT

A research carried out by the Georgetown University Medical Centre revealed that education aids in slowing down memory loss in older adults, especially among women.

The research looked at 704 Taiwanese adults with the age range of 58 to 98 years old and tested their declarative memory - the ability to remember events, facts and words, and other details such as where you put your keys or someone’s name.

The participants’ years of education were recorded while they were shown drawings of objects and asked to recall them several minutes later.

The results show that this protective effect was particularly strong among women, with the team finding that the memory gains associated with each year of education were five times larger than the losses experienced during each year of ageing among female participants, and two times larger among the male participants.

The study’s lead author, Jana Reifegerste explained, “since learning new information in declarative memory is easier if it is related to knowledge we already have, more knowledge from more education should result in better memory abilities, even years later.”

“Simply said, learning begets learning,” added the study’s senior investigator, Michael Ullman, PhD.

Read the full article in the link below:

15.4 Million People Picking Up German Worldwide

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Fri, 05 Jun 2020 02:48:36 GMT

A recent study published by the German Foreign Office shows that 15.4 million people are learning German. The study, done once every 5 years, suggests a merely slight increase in figures since its previous record in 2015.

However, the Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, Michelle Müntefering is delighted by the increase despite only by several thousand people.

“Learning German as a foreign language creates a bond with Germany. We want as many people as possible to become enthusiastic about our country.”

It needs to be taken note that the study only took into account German language learners at schools and language institutes worldwide but not those who are learning on their own.

In light of the pandemic, it is not surprising that more and more people are picking up the language. Deutsche Welle's online German courses have shown a surge in visits with data that recorded an increase of over 100% in visits to the online course materials website between January and April 2020. The number of page impressions rose by approximately 140%, which means that these resources were not only used more frequently, but also more intensively.

Access the DW German Courses below:

New Form of Assessment for Students

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 03:33:41 GMT

While SOPs are being distributed to schools in preparation for reopen, students of the higher education face challenges to adapt to new method of assessment.

The setting of online and at home gained concerns by academicians on the efficiency and accountability of the assessments.

According to Associate Professor Dr Dorothy Dewitt from the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Technology, Faculty of Education, Universiti Malaya, students should not be only tested on factual knowledge. Focus should be given instead to the using of higher order thinking skills to justify opinions and defend arguments.

Read more in the link below:

An Introduction to the World of Legal Interpretation

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 03:51:44 GMT

Legal interpreting is a very demanding interpretation field involving legal or paralegal context. It is crucial to ensure efficient administration of justice, and would result in severe consequences if parties misunderstood each other.

With that being said, here are some interesting facts to help you know more about the world of legal interpreting:

There are emergency cases too. These cases are usually criminal cases which may affect the ability of victims and possible witnesses to report a crime or help in an investigation procedure.
Legal interpreting implies terminology and procedures that change significantly because of the difference in procedures from one place to another.
Many cases, especially criminal cases involving immigrants go unreported as a result of failing to obtain interpreting services for limited-English-proficient targets.
The code of ethics of a legal interpreter: to be as accurate as possible and restrain all personal reaction or opinions.
Educational requirements to be a legal interpreter: a high school diploma and a Bachelor’s degree in translations studies. If possible, learn other foreign languages to help build up a great background alongside additional courses such as phonetics, diction, and composition. Enrolling in a professional court interpreter certificate program is a great idea for aspiring interpreters as well. But most importantly, experiences matter.

The Rise of Child Exploitation From Global School Closures

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 03:44:20 GMT

According to child protection experts, school closures resulting from the pandemic are risking students around the world to human rights abuses such as forced genital mutilation, early marriage and sexual violence.

This is especially obvious among the rural and refugee communities. Many girls are cut (FGM) even though parents know that it is illegal. They have also been using this opportunity to encourage early marriage.

Now, as schools prepare to reopen, NGOs fear that millions of the world’s most vulnerable children may never return to the classroom. Unicef worries that many girls will never return to school. This would result in the return of gender inequality issue in education.

Even before pandemic hits, fewer than half of school-age refugee children were enrolled, while only one in four were attending secondary school.

Read more in the link below:

Why Can't Translation Save Dying Languages?

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 03:21:30 GMT

Today, half of the population in the world only speak 25 main languages, these linguistic groups are expanding at the expense of the smaller languages.

The extinction of languages stem from many reasons including natural disasters, legal suppression and forced migration. On top of that, some languages are so rare, that ‘there is no published dictionary, grammar, texts or standardised writing system’.

While it could be argued that the lack of translators to translate these rare languages is also an issue, the truth is, translation itself is insufficient in many ways.

One cannot actually translate a culturally framed understanding which is embedded in language. Each language has an implied set of values – some things that one cannot say and some automatic collocations which connect concepts. Moreover, sounds, rhymes and rhythms are lost in the translation of verse. In fact, the very obscurity of these languages leads to problems with translation. One simply cannot find someone to translate directly into English; hence we get descriptions, such as ‘translated from Ainu into Japanese, translated from Japanese into English’. Although we get the original text, this chain translation does make one question the English language version’s fidelity to the original.

With that being said, it is not surprising that out of some 7000 languages spoken today, half of them are expected to die out before the year 2100.

Read more about this in the article below:

Top News on Global Education This Week

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Sat, 30 May 2020 03:08:19 GMT

From efforts to provide free access to online education to students by mobile phone companies to reopening of schools in West Africa and the increasing concern on child labour and child marriage in Yemen, here are 5 top news on the global education this week:

Virtual Language Learning Platform by Refugees Gains Attention

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Fri, 29 May 2020 02:10:19 GMT

NaTakallam, an online language learning platform taught by refugees has seen a 150 per cent growth in its April class sessions. The platform, formed in 2015, has always been running virtually and this pandemic provided the best opportunity for businesses to grow.

Not only will this provide income for the refugees, they are also given the chance to make new friends and exchange stories with people around the world and spread positivity during hard times like these.

The organisation now has tutors teaching four languages from 25 different countries.

Read more about this in the article below:

Frustrated on your slow progress in language learning? Here’s why learning a new language is more difficult for adults:

Video Credits: NBC New York

'Foreign Translation Should be Banned at Government Press Events', Proposed Chinese Legislator

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Thu, 28 May 2020 03:11:24 GMT

A proposal to prohibit foreign translations at government press events was raised by a Chinese legislator at the annual National People’s Congress (NPC) meetings.

The mayor and deputy Communist Party secretary of Zhuzhou, Yang Weiguo explained that this action is to “safeguard the dignity of the Chinese language” at a time of surging nationalist rhetoric openly stoked by Beijing.

According to Yang, this would showcase China’s cultural confidence and improve efficiency at major diplomatic events and press briefings.

He also added that foreign reporters needed to “follow the local customs” by mastering Chinese, and eliminating foreign language translation would “uphold the principle of reciprocity” since press events abroad did not provide Chinese language translation.

“At press conferences and reporter meetings, every person has their words translated into English, which doubles the time required and decreases efficiency,” he said.

Reasoning that Chinese is now one of the United Nations’ six official languages, Yang said the decision to end foreign translations would be “fully legal”.

Read the full article in the link below:

Dissecting the Myth of 'Unschooling'

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Wed, 27 May 2020 02:01:35 GMT

The philosophy of allowing kids to direct their own learning according to their interests has been around of centuries. Supporters of such a notion reasoned that not only is a prescribed curriculum delivered by teachers unnecessary, it crushes children’s natural curiosity and creativity. With the recent closure of schools, it is not surprised that this concept of unschooling has once again become the passion of debate.

The source of debate rooted from a recent documentary named 'Unschooled'. It traces an effort to help three struggling inner-city teenagers by means of this approach. Meanwhile, parents are urged to adopt the concept of unschooling during the enforcement of remote learning now and perhaps even after reopen of schools. Undeniably, many kids are now being effectively “unschooled”—although it may look like they’re just sleeping all day and playing video games. This, according to some advocates, is a natural phase where children discover their real interest.

The screening of this documentary garnered talks about the failures of traditional schooling and the benefits of enabling children to “own their own learning.” However, many neglected the fact that these kids did not even grasp the basic knowledge in maths.

Therefore, while standard version of school clearly isn’t working for many kids. But that doesn’t mean the answer is unschooling. The real problem is that ideas like those behind unschooling have had so much influence.

The concept of unschooling could only work when kids are already exposed to knowledge on different topics, then they are able to engage in a subject of their interest and achieve their full potential. The adaptation of this concept at primary education level would backfire. Not only students risk the opportunity miss out on learning certain subjects, it would even deprived untold numbers of children of the opportunity to develop to their full potential.

Children should instead be introduced to new subjects in an engaging way when they’re young and eager to learn about the world, so they can discover new interests. In this case, traditional schooling seems to be the solution as explicit instruction works far better than discovery learning when students don’t already know much about a topic.

Read more about this in the article below:

Check out the documentation here:

How Linguistic Creativity Helps Us Cope with the Pandemic

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Tue, 26 May 2020 03:33:11 GMT

The coronavirus outbreak resulted in emergence of new words related to social distancing of human contact today. Thus, lexicologists are struggling to keep up with the never-ending string of new terms from ‘covideo party’, ‘virtual happy hour’ and ‘coronababies’ to abbreviations such as ‘PPE’.

According to Fiona McPherson, the senior editor of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), all of the terms added to the OED in April, in an unscheduled update, were related to the pandemic in some way, including ‘infodemic’ and ‘elbow bump’. However, the only actual new word added to the dictionary is ‘Covid-19’.

On the bright side, such creative and innovative usage of language shows the importance of novel language as a coping mechanism.

Although some of these emojis and terms might seem flippant, they do provide a good source of humour. According to sociolinguist at Birmingham City University, Robert Lawson: “If you can laugh at them, it makes things more manageable almost, and just helps with people’s psychological health more than anything else.”

However, linguists also believe that many of the coronacoinages will not endure post-pandemic.

Read the full article in the link below:

Mixed Feelings Following Deferment of SPM

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Mon, 25 May 2020 02:10:14 GMT

Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic sent the world into pause, the Minister of Education (MOE) has been working hard to ensure education goes on. For the sake of health and safety of the students, the MOE was forced to defer the key school-leaving examination, SPM, to earlier next year.

The deferment triggered mixed feelings among parents and students. Nevertheless, it gained support from two education-based parent groups - Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) and Melaka Action Group for Parents in Education (MAGPIE).

Undeniably, deferment is the wisest decision at the moment in light with the chaos in the education sector today. Since the enforcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO), the education sector faced many challenges to keep things running. From shifting to the virtual platform to keeping track of students’ performance, the country is certainly unprepared to convert into fully online education. Many work still has to be done in overcoming the various issues faced from virtual learning, a major one, according to Universiti Malaya (UM) Faculty of Education dean Prof Dr Rohaida Mohd Saat is the poor internet connectivity and limited access to devices. These are also causes behind the uneven shift to online learning among urban and rural students, explained Sarawak Teachers’ Union (STU) vice-president Adam Prakash Abdullah. All of these would gradually form a gap between students in terms of education level and leave them unprepared for the exam. Therefore, parents and students should understand that the deferment is unavoidable as students were already far behind in their lessons.

With that being said, SPM candidates should never see this as a holiday. They should instead use this opportunity to brush up on weak subjects and conduct self-learning sessions to ensure that they are well-equipped for the exam. Here are some tips for students who are struggling to keep up with their lessons:

Stop procrastinating!
Set daily time limit for all non-study related social media and entertainment applications.
Set out daily goals on a specific topic and dedicate at least 1 hour of full concentration on studying that topic, baby steps count!
Acknowledge that it is fine to feel overwhelmed but make sure to keep going
Don’t just study! Make some time to do other fun activities such as baking and even making TikTok videos
It is OKAY to take breaks. Short breaks help in recharging the brain and increase productivity.
Create group study sessions with your friends to keep each other in check.
Stay active. Simple indoor exercises such as jump rope and workout help pump the adrenaline, making you feel fresh and healthy to continue grinding.
Get sufficient sleep. The MCO is not an excuse to stay up all night!
Sign up for online courses or tuition classes for extra guidance from teachers on the subjects.

Check out the latest courses offered by nation’s leading live streaming education platform, Translife Education. The platform is a brainchild of Translife Education CEO, Mr Aery Goh under the belief of ‘To be at the top and successful, everyone needs to learn from the best teachers.’ Our wide selection of subjects covers all major sciences and arts stream subjects with tips and spot-on topics to help you ace your papers. Learn more about the courses and sign up now in the link below:

Star Education Fair To Be Held Online

Fri, 22 May 2020 02:34:05 GMT

In light of the conditional movement control order (CMCO), the long-running education fair has decided to shift its platform online. The fair held by Star Media Group (SMG) will allow visitors to learn more on their courses of interest and scholarships with the click of a mouse.

The fair will run from May 29 to May 31. It is a “one-stop” education event where students could download university brochures, book campus tours (for after MCO) and instantly connect to education counsellors in real time.

Alongside this, career talks will also be held daily from 10am to 7pm via webinars throughout the 3 days.

The registration for the fair is free.

Learn more about this in the article below:

Operation to Bring Students Home Continues

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Thu, 21 May 2020 02:12:18 GMT

The Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) began their operation of sending students stranded on campus home on April 27. This operation involves the movement of some 70,000 students across the country and the government aims to complete the operation before Hari Raya.

Aside from universities, police, airlines and many other agencies involved, a department that stood proudly at the fore of all these efforts is the Student Affairs Department (HEP). They manage the well-being of students on campus during lockdown, which ranges from sending meals to organising activities.

The student movement exercise, codenamed IPTpulang, was arguably the most challenging endeavour faced by the HEP. Yet it was done so meticulously and uncompromisingly in its care. The strict SOP includes sanitising the luggage and transport by the Fire and Rescue Department to checking of students’ details by Police officers.

Meanwhile, Education and Innovation Minister, Datuk Dr Yusof Yacob stated that chartered flights to bring students back to Sabah from institutions of higher learning in peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak resumed on May 20. He also said that the operation will continue on May 21 and subsequently on May 27 and May 28.

Is it OK to Correct One's Grammar?

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Wed, 20 May 2020 01:56:13 GMT

The answer to this question is relatively subjective. While, some might say that if good grammar isn’t in the job description, it shouldn’t count; undeniably, continuous correction by someone would definitely make one feel an overreach of his/her power.

A simple example can be shown when one corrects the other in the middle of an argument. Not only will this show one taking the upper hand, it also seems to suggest that he/she is detracting from what the other party is saying, putting them down instead of listening to the substance of their argument.

In short, correcting one’s grammar depends on the situation and person. If you are someone who has the habit of correcting someone else’s grammar, try asking yourself: am I genuinely trying to help? Or am I just wanting the feeling of being superior? Am I using it as an excuse to cast fault on the other party? And lastly, does it really matter?

Read more in the link below:

Priority on Social Distancing when Schools Reopen

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Tue, 19 May 2020 02:21:20 GMT

The Education Minister ensured that social distancing among students will be the main focus when school reopens.

Dr Mohd Radzi Md Jidin said that schools would be informed two weeks prior to reopen with each class housing a maximum of 17 students.

“Large classes (however) can house a little over 20 students, ” he added.

The minister also proposed a possible alternative for utilising school halls for classes with a small number of students.

Pre-packed food would also be served in school canteens instead and students would not be allowed to gather.

Aside from implementing a SOP, he also said that Forms Five and Six students will be the first to start school.

Explaining the impacts of MCO towards the education landscape in Malaysia, the minister said that the pandemic drew attention towards the importance of prioritising hardware for effective home-based learning. However, he is glad that the MCO gave children more time to spend with family and carry out informal learning including skills such as cooking.

Read the full article in the link below:

Making Full Use of Subtitles

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Mon, 18 May 2020 02:20:23 GMT

Subtitles are the most comprehensive form of closed captioning. Not only does it include the speaker’s words, it also construe nondialogue information such as ambient sound effects and speaker identification. For that, it is perhaps the most useful alternative for traditional language learning. Here are some reasons why subtitles are increasingly popular:

1. Providing extra dimension of clarity, accessibility and control

Subtitles help to translate visuals into text, therefore increasing viewer engagement and value.

2. Improve literacy skills such as reading comprehension, grammar and promote retention.

It has been scientifically proven that phonetic comprehension helps in establishment of fundamentals for learning vocabulary and grammar. Viewers are also able to understand slang, grammar and other nuances through subtitles.

3. Keep track with the events

Subtitles keep viewers in the loop with the events unfolding on the screen, can improve accessibility for individuals with ADHD and add clarity to any unfamiliar jargon.

National Eminent Teacher Award Recipient Encourages Teachers to Stay Strong and Committed

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Sun, 17 May 2020 03:24:30 GMT

As the recipient of this year’s National Eminent Teacher Award, Nor Hainei Abu Bakar encourages teachers to be strong and committed despite being accused of not doing their job during the MCO period.

The former headmaster of Sekolah Kebangsaan Jalan 3, Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor said that teachers must understand and master the subjects they are teaching, adapt to the changes, love their students and be well equipped with counselling skills to be close to them. This is in line with this year’s Teachers’ Day theme - ‘Teaching for Knowledge, Shaping a New Generation’.

On the other hand, Deputy Director-General of Education (Operation Sector) Aminudin Adam was awarded the National Education Leader 2020.

Aminudin explained the current challenges in the 21st century education sector, which include the need to set up a conducive environment in schools as well as ensuring teachers are well-versed with the modern teaching method.

Read the full article in the link below:

Bilingual Education System Leads the Way of 21st Century Education

Sat, 16 May 2020 05:24:41 GMT

Technical skills are no longer unique for job seekers from the upcoming 21st century generation, instead employers are looking for bilinguals and polyglots.

This is due to the expansion of a globally-connected economy. Professionals of all industries are constantly social networking at a global scale to share information and knowledge. Therefore, the ability to communicate in more than one language provides a head start for those who want to thrive in this highly competitive and demanding era.

Not only will one be able to easily collaborate with people around the world, mastering a new language will also directly increase cultural awareness of an individual and hence nurtures respect towards people of all cultures and identities.

Read more on why schools offering bilingual programme will lead the way in the 21st century education:

Pandemic Forms Gap Between Students

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Fri, 15 May 2020 04:16:59 GMT

The pandemic made us rely on technology more than ever, especially for the ones in the education sector.

For places that lack internet infrastructures, teacher training and familiarity with classroom technologies such as some regions of the Latin America, the struggle is real.

The consequence of a prolonged lockdown period would result in a distinct gap between students’ education level. The ones with internet access would be able to adapt yet the ones without access would be left out. Not only does this push students apart, teachers would also struggle to bridge the gap once schools reopen.

While ways such as delivering printed materials, giving financial aid and relying on home-learning kits from the radio and TV programmes have been ongoing actively, these are still insufficient as compared to physical classes. A more complete solution for online learning is definitely needed, yet such an evolution will take years of investment, experts say.

Access the full article in the link below:

Chinese Language May Be the Next Global Language

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Thu, 14 May 2020 02:15:26 GMT

An article published by English lecturer, Dr. Jeffrey Gil claims that Chinese language may rise to become a “global language” like English.

The lecturer from Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia reasoned that universal literacy was not required for a global language status. Instead of mastering the language to a native-like level, Gil explained that people would only learn as much of the language depending on their requirement.

This is topped with the modern technologies that enable conversion of Chinese phonetic alphabet, or Pinyin, into Chinese characters.

Moreover, the language has been used largely in other countries outside China such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam.

“This occurred due to China’s status as the most powerful country in the region, if not the world, and demonstrates that people in any country will learn and use characters if there is sufficient reason to do so.”

Gil also concluded that a character-based writing system will not prevent Chinese attaining global language status.

“The inconsistencies and irregularities of English’s writing system show that linguistic properties alone do not determine whether a language becomes global,” he explained.

Asian Art Museum Keep Things Running Despite Pandemic

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Wed, 13 May 2020 03:30:30 GMT

The pandemic might have cancelled many events, but shows in the San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum are still going on. A result of their wide range of creative programmes, staff in this museum are as busy as ever.

Manager of school and teacher programs, Margert Yee explains that her team has been getting high responses from teachers on their May’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. The teachers will get packages consisting of biographies of artists such as Bernice Bing and Ruth Asawa for students. The four Japanese American artists featured were interned during World War II.

The package also comes with art activities for students and a series of curriculum for teachers, such as a video from their storytelling program, or a talk that Asian Art Museum director Jay Xu did on works from ancient China, and they are working on slideshows of tours — with pauses for activities.

Yee explained that the many programmes are important in getting the public connected to art amidst the pandemic. Recently, they have also collaborated with the San Francisco Unified School District in hosting a webinar, namely “Hip Hop to Hamilton: Making Art Work,” featuring Hamilton’s music director, Lily Ling, and the founder of Hip Hop for Change, Khafre Jay. They discussed what students pursuing careers in arts could do in light of the pandemic, which forces many performances and art shows to be cancelled.

Check out their popular storytelling videos:

Read more on this in the full article below:

'Covid-19 is Feminine', says French Academy

Tue, 12 May 2020 03:15:36 GMT

Despite the many uncertainties behind the Covid-19 disease, we can now affirm one thing - it is feminine.

A directive released by the official guardian of the French language, The Académie Française, pronounced that Covid-19 is “preferable” feminine, therefore should be addressed in “la” but not “le”. The directive was published in the official website under the category of ‘faulty use’ for French speakers and the media have commonly addressed it as masculine.

The Academy deplores the use of the masculine "le Covid-19" by explaining that it was wrongly assigned the same gender as the germ that causes it: "le" coronavirus.

In French, the gender of an acronym is determined by the core word. For the Covid - Coronavirus Disease, the core word disease is feminine, “la maladie”, hence “la” Covid-19.

Aside from the French language, the Royal Spanish Academy also recommended a feminine use of the term. In fact, both the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Canada officials have long referred to Covid-19 in a feminine form.

Showing Love Through Translation

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Mon, 11 May 2020 03:09:08 GMT

A Singapore creative agency, BlkJ has launched an online platform for the public to show concern towards the local foreign worker community in fighting Covid-19.

The platform, named Love Translated, encourages the public to share words of encouragement via Whatsapp. Then, in collaboration with translation firms, these messages will be translated into different languages before forwarded daily to the workers via Whatsapp groups and Facebook posts, or posted online on lovetranslated.org.

The initiative gained attention of the Singapore Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong where he shared about it on Facebook. His post helped in spreading the message, drawing attention of Singaporeans across the world.

As of Friday (May, 8), the project has garnered more than 1,100 messages. Now, the agency is coming up with more ways to aid the migrant workers. One of the upcoming project involves giving out meals to them.

Read more about this or find out ways you can contribute in the link below:

Spreading Vital Message through Lullabies

Sun, 10 May 2020 04:50:04 GMT

Volunteers in Zambia, Africa has created lively lullabies in local languages to spread important healthcare messages such as Covid-19 precautions to the local women community.

The project, named Life-Saving Lullabies is funded by Britain’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). It is a zero-cost way to create awareness on vital health issues which will be targeted to spread towards other African countries and even other countries.

The volunteers will perform the songs to women when they visit maternity clinics. This is a memorable way to convey important information about birth and childcare, but for now, focus is given more on spreading precautions about Covid-19, such as social distancing.

The songs are available online.

Listen to one of the lullabies created from this project:

Language Service Companies Play Their Role During Difficult Times

Sat, 09 May 2020 03:05:51 GMT

Video remote interpretation application, VOYCE announced that it is donating up to 100,000 minutes of its language translation services to the healthcare industry as an aid to fight COVID-19. The net worth of this 100,000 minutes is an approximate of $100,000. Healthcare providers across US can now use the VOYCE app to facilitate communication between patients and healthcare providers.

The platform offers a wide range of 229 languages. CEO of VOYCE, Andrew Royce assures that all their live translators are professionals and HIPAA compliant. Services are available for 24/7 to communicate face-to-face through the app with non-English speakers to understand their situation and concerns.

The reason behind the surge in demand of medical translators is because of the many reported overlooked patients due to language barriers. This resulted in serious issues such as mistaken discharge which led to spreading of the disease.

On a similar account, CEO of Translife Group, Goh Soon Lih has set up an education team - Translife Education in hope to aid students through difficult times.

The team’s recent project is the highly anticipated free SPM online talk which features 10 top-notch teachers in their respective fields.

The talk, which will take place on 16th and 17th May, received overwhelming response from students nationwide upon opening for registration. To date, an approximate of 5k students have signed up for the talk.

Learn more about this and secure your slot in the link below:

3 Marketing Strategies during Critical Times

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Fri, 08 May 2020 04:35:31 GMT

The pandemic impacted global economy critically, catching many businesses and companies off-guard. With the main focus for many businesses now is to preserve and survive, marketing becomes an important business strategy to keep the ball rolling. Here are some useful tips as a start:.

Form a stronger and long-lasting team

Although some cuts and changes in staff is inevitable, redeploying teams may be a better strategy than aggressively shrinking them. Make use of these human resources by training them, take this opportunity to identify learning and development goals and devise long-term plans for individual team members. You can even restructure the teams and form better connections among members which will be beneficial in long-term.

Communicate with your customers

Customers and prospects will be concerned on how businesses are protecting their interests during critical times. Therefore, communicate frequently with them showing how you’re securing their interest, what can they get out of their investment right now and your plans on recovery. They are watching and they will remember how you handle the situation. Be kind and reach out.

Nurture community and innovation in your industry

With the shift from on-premises solutions to the digital platform, use this time to establish a mature online system and community. Make use of this time to gather datas from customers in tailoring a suitable recovery plan or even generate new ideas. Create what your audience is looking for or even be creative with collaboration. Quoting Twitter’s co-founder, Biz Stone, “Constraints inspire creativity. When our backs are against the wall, we come up with some amazing things.”

A good example of this can be seen on how celebrities are making use of the digital during the pandemic:

Indigenous Cultures Remain 'Voiceless' Online

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Thu, 07 May 2020 04:19:11 GMT

The lack of minority languages content online poses a threat of extinction towards the languages. Statistics have shown that 98% of online pages are in the similar 12 languages commonly used, out of some 7000 languages and dialects available. English, unsurprisingly, makes up 72% of these pages.

Consequently, this leaves indigenous cultures ‘voiceless’ online and instead need to succumb to reality by learning other languages or remain digitally silent.

Effort has been done by UNESCO in 2003 by highly promoting the use of multilingualism online. Now, other activists are also working on translating Wikipedia and Mozilla Firefox into different languages.

However, some of the largest hurdles faced by them include lack of access to online infrastructure in remote places as well as the lack of diverse alphabets across website domains from hardware (ex: keyboard) to software (ex: programming languages).

Medical Translators Overworking During Pandemic

Wed, 06 May 2020 05:26:27 GMT

The pandemic made us appreciate frontliners such healthcare workers and delivery men, however, medical translation should also be given recognition. They play a vital role in keeping us up to date with the latest news and important information from around the world.

Their job might seems simple but in reality, it is a highly demanding profession. Not only does one need to have high language proficiency, a certified medical translator also needs to be well versed in medical knowledge and the language of medicine. They should have extensive knowledge of medical terminology, practices, code of ethics, and all other relevant medical matters.

The issue of shortage in medical translators has been around even before the pandemic hits the world, and got worse now. This exerts an incredible amount of pressure on the translators.

Why Should ASEAN Tailor A Language Policy?

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Tue, 05 May 2020 04:05:24 GMT

ASEAN countries are well-known for their rich diversity and culture rooting from the hundreds of ethnic groups present. An outcome of such robust diversity can be seen in the different indigenous and local languages spoken.

Unfortunately, the region rarely addresses their language education policy, most of the indigenous languages always excluded in Southeast Asian education systems. This has led to a mix of language policies across member states and threats to linguistic and cultural diversity in the region, according to ASEAN Today.

To add salt to the wound, the increasing demand in English proficiency level in order for one to gain more job opportunities on an international platform caused local languages to further be neglected. Many schools have set a bilingual education policy. However, students who are used to speaking in their mother tongue struggle to master the language which as a result forced some ASEAN countries to frequently change their language education policies over the past decade.

Taking the European Union (EU) as an example, who has settled down with 24 official languages that has a fundamental policy of maintaining the use of member countries’ languages. The EU’s goal is to have its citizens speak at least two languages aside from their mother tongue for a better intercultural dialogue.

It is undeniable that ASEAN countries, on the other hand, may face more challenges in tailoring a suitable language policy. Nevertheless, this has to be done.

A language policy will not only facilitate a better and effective communication, it would also represent the region’s long standing identity of rich diversity in line with their motto “One Vision, One Identity, One Community”.

Read more in the link below:

Body Language Reflects Virtual Leadership Skills

Mon, 04 May 2020 02:47:26 GMT

With the increase in online communication, the way one portrays himself/herself outside the eye of the public speaks a lot about his/her attribute and self-discipline. Aside from physical appearances, body language also plays a vital role in showing one’s attitude, an example being the projection of virtual leadership skills.

Here are some tips in reflecting good leadership skills through body language:

Make a positive first impression

Similar to physical meeting, it takes a maximum of seven seconds for one to form an impression on your attitude, level of confidence, professional status, and personal warmth. The advantage of a physical meeting is that it gives you added opportunities (through hand shakes and greetings), yet online, it’s only your visual image that sets that initial impression.

A way to set a good first impression is by taking a few minutes before the meeting to prepare yourself mentally. Some questions you may ask yourself include, what you want to accomplish and why it’s important to the attendees. Doing so will help your facial expressions and initial gestures to automatically align with your intent.
Physical wise, avoid clothing with tight patterns, as they “jump around” on camera. In accordance to the event, your outfit can be very casual, as long as you make sure that your grooming and wardrobe reinforce your professional image.

Realise the importance of nonverbal behaviour

The essence in nonverbal behaviour lies within what the observer thinks you mean, rather than what you think you’re signalling.

Here are a few common body language habits that can send the wrong message:

Crossing arms may be comfortable but it is almost always perceived as a closed sign of resistance.
Slumping when you sit minimizes your leadership presence by appearing less confident and competent than you really are.

How Schools Around the World Are Reopening

Sun, 03 May 2020 03:58:52 GMT

While the government released an SOP for schools to reopen during the CMCO which starts tmr, schools in several countries are also gradually getting back on track. Here's a glimpse on how they operate:

China : As of early April, UNESCO’s data shows that most of the schools remain closed in larger regions and the ones reopened are only for graduating students. Starting April 27, high school seniors in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou are allowed to return to school to prepare for their college entrance exams.

Schools in Taiwan, however, reopened on February 25 after extending winter break by ten days, though they never officially close the schools down.

Safety measures are implemented in all schools, which includes a compulsory temperature check before entering the school compound.

Japan : Schools across Japan were urged to close from the beginning of March until the start of the new school year in early April.

An announcement made on March 24 indicated that the closure recommendation will not be extended. Instead, decisions to reopen were up to the local municipalities by taking account of the number of coronavirus cases in the area. Guidelines were released on a series of precautions that needs to be taken.

According to UNESCO, about 40% of schools have reopened to date.

Germany : Most schools and daycares across Germany have been closed since mid-March. While several high schools in Germany have reopened starting earlier April in order for students to take their final exams, Chancellor Angela Merkel recommended others to begin the process of reopening on May 4, with priority given to graduating students.

SOP for Education Sector during CMCO

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Sat, 02 May 2020 04:48:41 GMT

The National Security Council (NSC) has released an infographic on their Facebook page on the standard operating procedures (SOP) for the education sector. The SOP applies to the period of the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO), which will take place starting Monday (April, 4) .

According to the NSC, only exam bound classes such as SPM, SVM, STPM and STAM, and school staff will be allowed to attend school when schools reopen.

However, the operation will be subjected to several requirements to practice social distancing, as example being students need to be one metre apart.

For non-exam bound classes, from preschool to post-secondary level, home-based online learning sessions continue.

Colleges and higher learning institutions will still remain close, according to a special broadcast made by the Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin earlier yesterday.

Check out the infographic for more information:

Language Reveals Communities’ Mental Health

Fri, 01 May 2020 03:59:52 GMT

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania published a COVID map that shows how the pandemic affects individual’s mental health in the United States. As expected, the data shows that people are, on average, more stressed and anxious as well as an overall decrease in happiness.

Interestingly, the study was done by analysing words, including emoticon, used by individuals on Twitter.

This method of research has previously been used by the similar team of Penn’s World Well-Being Project in studying the mental well-being of each county, where it shows that the use of positive words such as ‘happy’ or ‘love’ does not necessarily suggest that the community is in good mental well-being. While the use of positive words and the well-being of community is directly proportionate in most cases, some suggest otherwise.

‘Words that are positive or negative don’t necessarily convey the feeling that you might think they would,’ said Lyle Ungar, one of the principal investigators of the project.

This time, the team has teamed up with the university’s Medicine’s Center for Digital Health in creating the COVID map. The research paper was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, available below:

Read the full article published by University of Pennsylvania below:

[Video] Paradigm Shift: The Era of Online Education

Thu, 30 Apr 2020 02:48:12 GMT

Dr. Dean Deihl from Trevecca Nazarene University shares his view on the shift in the education landscape amidst the pandemic.

Video credit: (TRANSLIFE do no own any copyright to the video)

Countdown to the Hardest Languages to Master

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 03:26:49 GMT

Recently, the US Foreign Service Institute has classified languages in degrees of difficulty according to the average number of hours required to master them for native English speakers.

The easiest language to master includes Latin languages such as Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese as well as Norwegian and Dutch. It takes around an average of 600 hours of studying in order to achieve "general professional proficiency" in speaking and reading in these languages.

The exotic Malay language would take an approximate of 900 hours of studying while Russian and Hungarian would take 1100 hours.

Lastly, on top of the list with the longest duration of studying are the languages Japanese, Arabic, Mandarin and Korean which would take a whooping 2200 hours on average to master.

For a view on the full list, refer to the link below:

Online Education in Malaysia

Tue, 28 Apr 2020 03:41:10 GMT

The MCO has forced education institutions to switch to online education. As much as the idea of online learning has always been encouraged and perceived as the 21st century method of learning, this sudden shift has caught many education institutions off guard as many are not prepared for it.

Aside from the fact that many teachers are still not technologically savvy, teaching online requires more effort and commitment in terms of preparing digital materials.

It is also a challenge for schools in rural areas with limited access to technologies and gadgets and the internet connection is slow or even inaccessible. Even in places with access to technologies, educators are struggling to keep track of their student’s performance and ensure that students are actually doing their work. Ultimately, the MCO should not be a reason for education standards to fall.

On the bright side, perhaps the MCO is indeed a blessing in disguise for catalysing the enforcement of the long-said online education. Despite all challenges faced, education through online platforms should continue even after the MCO for it is indeed an enhancement of one’s learning experience.

Read more about the online education scene in Malaysia now in the full article below:

Pandemic Raised Attention on Health Care Language

Mon, 27 Apr 2020 03:02:41 GMT

The English language, often presumed as the global language today is also the main language of global knowledge production and medicine.

In fact, ¾ of social science papers published globally were in English, followed by German and French each with a mere 7%. This therefore explains why it is such a big challenge in finding medical textbooks in other languages, not to say minority languages.

Such lack of access to information could have serious consequences to the minority communities, which is clearly visible when an outbreak occurs in the community. The previous 2014 Ebola outbreak sets precedent in this issue, where most women in Liberia and Sierra Leone died, partly due to the lack of access to information in their own languages.

Therefore, the presence of linkage between language and health is undeniable.

The Lancet Public Health article has noted that anglophone African countries tend to have better-resourced health systems. This could be a matter of global health donors favoring English-speaking countries. This is further combined with the possibility that health researches would choosing to approach English-speaking communities instead to avoid language barrier.

With the wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is concerned that history may repeat itself. Hence it is now that every corner of the world must have access to all health information, in which language plays the most fundamental element of that.

This is a summary based on the full article below:

“Language Might Originated Million Years Early”, Study Suggests

Sun, 26 Apr 2020 08:25:18 GMT

A new study suggests the possibility of language origining 20 to 25 million years earlier than previously thought. This resulted from a new finding that the structure critical to our brain's core language pathway, which previously only been located in humans and apes, has now also been identified in monkeys.

Since brain tissue doesn't survive over evolutionary timescales, it is hard to know when the first building blocks for language appeared in our distant past. Therefore, scientists largely rely on our living cousins to track down this missing brain 'fossil'. Therefore, researchers often find it difficult to pinpoint the exact origin, which explains why there is a high possibility of looking in the wrong direction.

Nevertheless, this study remains controversial. Yet if the researchers are right, the first neural building blocks for the evolution of language may have appeared much earlier than we thought.

"It is like finding a new fossil of a long lost ancestor,” says neuropsychologist Chris Petkov from Newcastle University.

Research in this field would play a significant part in treating human patients with neurological issues. Since language can be spoken, written or signed, such a breakthrough could give hope to other intact language pathways for patients who are no longer able to communicate at all.

Read the full article here:

Video on Covid-19 in Sign Language Available

Sat, 25 Apr 2020 03:15:36 GMT

The Ministry of Human Rights (MoHR) of Islamabad, Pakistan has produced a video on Covid-19 guidelines in sign language on Friday (April, 24).

The video aims to create awareness amongst people with disabilities, especially those with hearing impairments.

It is made accessible via official accounts of the Ministry of Human Rights on T witter and Facebook page.

View the video:

Full article on:

English in the EU Today: Introducing Euro English

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 06:18:18 GMT

In light of the World English Language Day yesterday (April, 23), linguists wonder on the current status of English in the EU considering the recent Brexit issue.

This is because upon the leaving of the UK from the bloc, there are no remaining member states with English as their official language. However, it is unlikely that the Europeans will shun English for the EU has confirmed to remain English as their official language. This is top by a 2012 report by the European Commission which found that English was the most widely-spoken foreign language in the EU, understood by 38% of respondents to a survey.

Indeed, the widespread usage of English by EU citizens has resulted in a modification of the language in accordance to their native language, namely the ‘Euro English’.

This concept is rather similar to our local Manglish, as defined by German MEP Terry Reintke, of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance: “It is a little bit of a messy use of English. It's people trying to express themselves in English but very often taking direct translations from their native language…”

In a way, this just shows the acceptance of European towards English, where instead of being seen as a language belonging to the UK, it is now more of a lingua franca of the European.

Know more about the rise of Euro English in the article below:

Google Introduces New Approach for Gender-Specific Translations

Thu, 23 Apr 2020 04:42:48 GMT

Google announced the release of a new system to address gender biasness in gender-specific translations in Google Translate. The languages involved here are English-to-Spanish and Finnish-, Hungarian-, and Persian-to-English.

The tech giant claims the new approach no longer rely on a data-intensive fender-neutrality detector which was previously used in Turkish-to-English translations, therefore capable of producing a more reliable and accurate product.

According to Google Research senior software engineer Melvin Johnson, the new approach is capable of reducing bias for translations from Hungarian, Finnish, and Persian to English to as much as ≥90%. Alongside this, the system also triggers gender-specific translations with an average precision of 97%. Simple said, when it decides to show gender-specific translations, it’s right 97% of the time.

“We are committed to further addressing gender bias in Google Translate and plan to extend this work to document-level translation, as well.”

This gender-neutral approach to language translation and computer vision is a part of Google’s larger effort to mitigate prejudice in AI systems.

Read more on this in the full article below:

NUS Graduate Brought Hope to Foreign Workers

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 03:38:08 GMT

The surge in COVID-19 cases amongst foreign workers in Singapore has raised concern, and worsened with the issue of language barrier.

Realising the urgency in overcoming this issue, NUS graduate Sudesna Roy Chowdhury, 24 pulled an all-nighter to develop a translation website for Bengali translation. The effort paid off when her website soon spread like wildfire among the medical industry.

“Your (website) will save lives… On behalf of Singapore, thank you,” an email to her wrote.

Prior to this, the medical school graduate was volunteering as a Bengali interpreter, facilitating communication between Bangladeshi patients and doctors through phone. However, as the translation requests increase, she realised that something has to be done to ensure faster communication.

“I wouldn’t wish for any doctor to say that patient care was compromised because of a communication error.”

With zero experience in the field, Sudesna succeeded in developing a life-changing portal that gave hope to the Bangladeshi workers. Efforts in improving the website are still ongoing before she begins her housemanship at Changi General Hospital in a few days time.

Read more about this in the article below:

Why is the Language Industry Important Now?

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 04:36:57 GMT

Translation and interpretation services have always played an undeniably crucial role in contemporary civilisation in terms of facilitating communication between parties.

While we acknowledge and appreciate the contribution of front liners such as medical professionals and supermarket employees in fighting the pandemic, many have now started to realise the significant role played by the language industry during hard times like this.

On this, a recent article published by the Times Square Chronicles exclusively highlighted the crucial role of translators and interpreters in present times.

These include the roles of the language industry from overcoming language barriers and hence ensuring public access to information, to preserving the growth of businesses during the outbreak.

Learn more about this from the full article below:

Speaking for the Migrants

Mon, 20 Apr 2020 04:09:46 GMT

‘Translation - the ability to communicate - can mean life or death for some detainees thrust into the US's ever-changing labyrinth of asylum law,’ as quoted by BBC News.

Indeed, for indigenous-speaking migrants in US detention centres who can’t speak English or Spanish, the feeling of voicelessness often leads to loss of hope and faith.

Addressing the situation, a project, namely Promoters of Migrant Liberation, was started in 2016. Co-founder of the project, Ana Gómez then assembled a group of women across the country who as well as Spanish speak an indigenous language to offer free translation services to the detainees.

These translators take long-distance phone calls from their home, most of them living in the highlands of Guatemala, to translate for migrants in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centres in the US. They translate a wide range of 22 Guatemala Maya languages to Spanish.

The significance of their job was described by translator, Ericka Guadalupe Vásquez Flores as: "We're giving them the hope to continue fighting in their languages, from their belief system, their way of thinking and understanding.”

Learn more about this in the article below:

A Glimpse at the Economy Amidst the Pandemic

Sun, 19 Apr 2020 08:20:31 GMT

The coronavirus outbreak sent storms to the economy. While some struggle to survive the storm, there are still industries that are thriving during such a depressed time, an example being the language industry.

This is majorly due to the increase in the requirement of online translation from scientists, academics and medical professionals working around the world to stem the tide of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Learn more on the social and economy impact of the pandemic as well as how to steer your business through hard times like this in the article below:

MCO The Best Time to Learn A New Language

Sat, 18 Apr 2020 05:27:01 GMT

The MCO has highlighted the importance of modern technologies to keep us company. However, instead of scrolling through social media, fully utilising these smart technologies to learn a new language is a great way to keep one busy.

With that being said, here are 6 applications that would make language learning fun and interesting:

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/lifestyle/apps-learn-language-lockdown/

Regardless of what language you want to pick up, remember that these apps are merely tools that aid in making the effort pay off faster, it would not work without time and effort. Remember that your ultimate goal - to be out in the world again someday and capable of interacting with native speakers in the flesh.

All the best!

Pandemic Changes Landscape of Medical Interpreting Industry

Fri, 17 Apr 2020 06:19:14 GMT

The coronavirus outbreak has upended the medical interpreting industry, according to TIME.

With the increase in need of interpreters to facilitate communication between doctors and patients who have limited English proficiency, hospitals that use face-to-face interpretation services are facing challenges to quickly adapt to remote interpreting services instead. Along with this, executive director of the Certification Commission for Health Care Interpreters (CCHI), Natalya Mytareva expressed her concern that not all hospitals have the infrastructure to transition quickly.

A direct effect of this shift is the increase in unemployment. Though some interpreters highlighted that body languages also play an important part in the interpreting process, which will be overlooked by remote interpreting services, others worry that some rare languages might be neglected.

In light of this, an interpreter from Louisville expressed: “It’s very possible that all those people will be alone and unable to communicate in their last moments of life. It’s terrifying.”

Read more about this in the full article below:

UPSR and PT3 exams cancelled while STPM and SPM postponed

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 04:19:57 GMT

Education Minister Radzi Jidin announced the cancellation of UPSR and PT3 exams this year, while the STPM and SPM exams shall be postponed to year 2021.

Along with this, he assured that the government will come up with an alternative method of assessment towards the Year 6 and Form 3 students instead.

On the other hand, the new examination dates for the SPM and STPM exams would also mean new dates for university intakes for the MOE and the Ministry of Higher Education has agreed to postpone the admission date for higher education institutes.

For more information, refer to the full article below:

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/04/15/education-ministry-upsr-pt3-exams-this-year-cancelled-spm-stpm-postponed/1856940

2020年起“荷兰”改称“尼德兰”

Mon, 30 Dec 2019 12:32:32 GMT

荷兰政府26日正式宣布，从2020年起将“正名”，对外名称不再使用暱称“Holland”（荷兰），一律改用正式国名“Netherlands”（尼德兰），这更名计划将花费20万欧元（约91万2500令吉），盼呈现荷兰的各种面貌，改变国际间对荷兰的刻板印象。

原本的“Holland”实际上指荷兰西部的两个省份，包括阿姆斯特丹、哈尔伦所在的“北荷兰省（North Holland）”，以及鹿特丹、海牙、莱登所在的“南荷兰省（South Holland）”。在19世纪，这两个“荷兰省”成为该国经济和财富中心；25年前开始，该国的旅游产业在宣传上也广泛使用Holland之名，促使该名称成为国家的代称。

然而，荷兰政府决定，自明年1月起，所有企业行号、大专院校、外交使馆和政府部会等，对外一律使用正式国名“Netherlands”，包括明年的东京奥运会及欧洲歌唱大赛。荷兰外交部一名发言人对此坦言，对外仅推广国家的一部分，“有一点奇怪”。不仅如此，正名计画还包含推出新的国家旅游形象标志，将舍弃Holland一词搭配国花郁金香，改由正式国名和状似郁金香的缩写字母ＮＬ组成，相信更能促进出口及吸引投资。

值得注意的是，官方指这些变动是国家旅游策略的一环，盼能增加其他省分的能见度，让观光客不再一窝蜂涌入拥有郁金香花田、风车村、国际法庭、红灯区等景点的荷兰省，而是多多前往较少人踏足的区域。

荷兰旅游当局统计，去年的观光客人数约1800万，比国家总人口还多100万，且预计2030年成长至每年4200万。然而，其中有许多人仅造访荷兰省，导致当地城市异常拥挤，并衍生其他问题，促使当局采取更名行动，以平衡旅客流向及旅游商机。

文章来源：星洲日报 2019-12-29
链接： https://www.sinchew.com.my/content/content_2183056.html?fbclid=IwAR0CAyRANt2cwqnHMKcBqw7qAcEMulASwdnSj_2EmDff3LLxkukdknz71jE

BAHASA MELAYU / MALAY TRANSLATIONS

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Sun, 14 Jul 2019 03:15:55 GMT

Translate Malay to English or vice versa has never been so easy...

It is important to get accurate ENGLISH TO BAHASA MELAYU / MALAY and BAHASA MELAYU / MALAY TO ENGLISH TRANSLATION SERVICES if you are dealing with Malaysian companies or even countries in the South East Asia region. At TRANSLIFE, we have a team of experienced professional native Bahasa Melayu / Malay translators who are expert in the technical terms or jargons of a wide range of industries. Each translator has years of experiences working around subject matters like marketing, sales, business, legal, financial, medical and education. From time to time, government agencies or embassies may require officially endorsed documents for translations from and to Bahasa Melayu / Malay. At our company, we are able to provide MTA/ITBM/Court-translator certified documents upon request.

Being able to communicate in Malay as a second or third language does not mean the one possesses the translation or interpreting skills for translating. Our experienced certified translators have deep understanding about the cultural background of both ENGLISH and BAHASA MELAYU , which will enable them to translate the subtle nuances of the document. Especially when you are producing sales and marketing materials, the subtle nuances that fail to be translated may cost you a big loss in terms of sales revenue as you fail to make an impact to the target audiences.

In short, TRANSLIFE offer ENGLISH TO BAHASA MELAYU / MALAY (VICE VERSA) TRANSLATION SERVICES , as well as subtitling, interpretation, transcription, copywriting, voice-over and multilingual search engine optimization according to the needs of your website, document, project or any events.

The types of documents that we translate are marriage certificates, birth and death certificates, academic transcripts, divorce decrees, and education certificates. Also, we handle projects including book/novel translations, global market expansion advertisements, official speeches, movie scripts and localized user/operation manuals.

We are 100% dedicated to delivering within the fastest turnaround time, but not before letting each translation pass through a stringent checking and proofreading process. If you need 200% checking, we can also arrange for you. Our main aim is to ensure that all our customers get the highest quality of translation within their budget.

Truths About English-Malay & Malay-English Translation

People get confused between Bahasa Melayu / Malay and Bahasa Indonesia / Indonesian because there are too many similarities; a Bahasa Melayu/Malay speaker would be able to understand up to 60%-70% of what a Bahasa Indonesia speaker says. Bahasa Melayu is also the official language of Brunei Darussalam. Surprisingly many are not aware that Bahasa Melayu is one of the four official languages of Singapore. In the whole ASEAN region, Bahasa Melayu speakers are around 40 million people.

Like many other Asian languages, good ENGLISH TO BAHASA MELAYU / MALAY (VICE VERSA) TRANSLATION SERVICES demand a high level of sensitivity and discretion from the translator because of the need to follow proper salutations and the need to be aware of sensitive cultural differences. At TRANSLIFE, you can be rest assured that our translators always think from customer perspectives by putting themselves into the clients’ shoes. Not only they are able to accurately translate to and from Bahasa Melayu / Malay while ensuring your sales or marketing messages are well preserved. With all these in their mind, they will choose the most suitable word forms to translate into easily-understood documents.

In short, this means our ENGLISH TO BAHASA MELAYU / MALAY (VICE VERSA) TRANSLATION SERVICES will be done by translators prioritizing your number one needs, purposes and agenda. The finished translation will definitely satisfy your expectation in terms of high quality and fast turnaround time. If you wish to start a long-term profitable relationship with us as your BAHASA MELAYU / MALAY (VICE VERSA) TRANSLATION SERVICES provider, call us at +60384081397 or fill up our web form > www.translife-translation.com/lpgeneral

OUR BEST PRICE GUARANTEE POLICY

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 16:31:41 GMT

BEST PRICE GUARANTEE:
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ON TIME GUARANTEE

main@translifegroup.com (SOON LIH GOH) — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 16:31:41 GMT

ON TIME GUARANTEE:
We TRANSLIFE guarantee you to deliver our work ON TIME. If we fail to deliver our work on time, we will DEDUCT 10% fee as an apology.