What is the Romanian translation for ‘Brexit?’

Or more to the point what is the Romanian translation for ‘remain?’ If you are one of the large group of ‘remainers’ of which the outcome of the Brexit vote has left a sour taste in your mouth and left you with no or little hope for your future outside of the European Union, then surprisingly Romania just might be the answer for you!

You do not need to be of Romanian descent, speak the Romanian language or to even have stepped foot in the country so there would be no need for a professional translation agency or their translation services if you were to emigrate.

“Why?!” I hear you gasp, well a daily online newspaper in Romania’s capital Bucharest called Gândul (Romanian to English translation: The thought) with the help of local advertising agency GMP Advertising have launched a campaign to re-home disgruntled remain voters who accounted for a massive 48% or just over 16 million British citizens.

The cleverly titled campaign “Romanians adopt Remanians” aims to attract the remainers by promising a chance to leave the “Brexiters” behind with the bad weather in hope to start a new life in Romania which is very much a part of the EU.

The way in which the campaign works via a Facebook app is to pair up the unhappy Brits with “loving Romanian families” to adopt them in order to apply for a Romanian ID.

As well as having the section for the British remain citizens there is also a section for local Romanian volunteers to sign up to aid “the good people” of the UK who casted their votes to remain part of the EU as they “share European values deserve to be our relatives” (TheGuardian). Although there is no mention for those who voted to leave initially but have since had a change of heart, they are known as ‘Regrexiters’.

This initiative is largely the reverse considering that immigration into the UK has been a massive talking point amongst a relatively large section of the British population and media outlets. Gândul had previously run a campaign at the peak of these fears of mass immigrations in 2014 when restrictions were lifted for Romanians and Bulgarians to come in and out the UK. The campaign called #WhyDontYouComeOver was a counter campaign aimed at Britons to immigrate the other way with offers of jobs and accommodation amongst other things.

Tell us your thoughts, fancy moving to Romania?

Image: Jeff Djevdet

How to support England in ‘French’ at Euro 2016

Heading to France this summer to see The Euros? Well you are going to have to hunt down your old French to English dictionary and you have got to brush up on your GSCE level French or if you have the budget, invest in some professional translation services because you will have to know how to get about the country and look out for yourself but most importantly you are going to have to know what the French are saying about their national football team and how to counter back in French from an English point of view.

Luckily for you we are here to help and have put together just some of the current trending French lingo surrounding the UEFA European Championships 2016. Here is a list of French to English translations of some of the most trending general French footballing terms.

Let’s start with an obvious one ‘Les Bleus’ or ‘Allez les Bleus’ which is the most popular chant or saying when it comes to roaring on the French national team. The English translation is ‘The Blues’ or ‘Come on the Blues’, so England fans should use the term ‘Allez les Anglais/Angleterre’ which in French would be ‘Come on the English/England’ but in all honesty you are better off getting Italian translation services and backing Italy this tournament but, we still believe!

Another catchphrase the French are using in support of the national team is ‘fiers d’être bleu’ which means ‘proud to be Blue’ something that immediately sends out positive French patriotic signals. Now how can a proud Englishman respond to this? Shout back ‘Allez les trois lions!’ or ‘Come the three lions!’

Now one thing that has been so successful about these Euros, other than the late drama and intense matches has been the fanzone or ‘le fanzone’. Fairly simple to remember you just put ‘le’ instead of ‘the’ and your best but none the less dodgy French accent and that’s how you say the fanzone. The most popular fanzone is based in the French capital Paris which is free of charge and open to the public. With the commercial success of this tournament resulting in a very positive financial translation so far, these free-to-use fanzones have been a major success.

Last but not least the French use the term ‘Le 12ème homme’ or the English translation, ‘The 12th man’ something that we use already to liken the fans to an extra player on the pitch. There are many more footballing terms but these should see you up to England’s usual final stage, the quarter finals. But you never know with Jamie Vardy on the team.

Who do you think will win the Euros?

Image: Patrice CALATAYU

How could the Brexit vote affect Language Service Providers and SME’s?

As the Brexit vote moves closer and closer, on 23rd June, 2016 millions of British, Irish and Common Wealth citizens who live in the UK as well as Britons who have lived abroad for less than 15 years will head to their polling stations and decide whether to remain in the European Union (EU) or leave the EU. A decision so simple yet so many varying factors to be considered. Now we have all seen the endless TV debates, news articles and Prime Minister Questions in the past few months and despite this there are many people who are still not decisive as to whether they will vote leave or remain.

In this post we are looking at how a Brexit or a leave vote could impact language service providers such as Translation agencies in UK or individual translators and interpreters. This can also apply to small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s) who operate not only in Britain but conduct trade within the EU.

The impact on currency and tax

For translators who deal with businesses across multiple countries Britain leaving the EU will include new tax laws which could result in accounting becoming more complex especially for those who deal with their own legal affairs in the form of annual accounts.  

Many translation companies in the UK trade in different currencies including the Euro and Dollar. The pound is currently the strongest of the three and will most likely continue to be, however the pound has recently fallen leading up to the Brexit vote and if it continues to drop this ultimately means higher costs for UK translation agencies.

On the other hand many leave campaigners have attributed a major benefit to the leave campaign as a benefit for businesses as Britain will not have to contribute to the EU budget which will mean an “immediate cost reduction of around €180 per person in the UK, raising the prospect of tax reductions”.

The impact on free movement and free trade

Being part of the EU has enabled many UK businesses to trade freely within the EU. This has eliminated trade barriers such as high import and export tax. 

When it comes to the translation industry it is imperative that the translation is completed by a native translator in order to maintain the highest quality translations. For example if a document needs translating from English to French, the most effective way is to use a professional French translator who is a French native and has fluency in English. In such cases you find that many such linguists are French natives who have come to the UK to study and work. Another benefit related to free movement for members if the EU is that this allows British translation agencies to travel to other European countries to attend events and conferences in order to secure business.  

The impact on education and language learning

Many translation companies take advantage of the use of translators and interns that come to the UK to learn the English language often on their assignments for university degrees. Voting to leave will reduce the ability to study abroad. While the UK does pay fees to the EU some sources have stated that the return universities receive is a financial profit.

Another point is that British workers lose out on a potential £48 billion a year due to not having non-English language skills and leaving the EU will only add to that as the incentives to learn other European languages reduce. 

Frankly the vote leave or remain will affect different groups of people in different ways and many people will vote based on how Brexit will directly affect them in the near future. Take for example the multinational airline owners like Richard Branson who has gone as far as saying that “Brexit would be ‘worst decision Britain could ever make” whose business Virgin Airlines relies and benefits heavily on European trade or Ryan Air who heavily take advantage of the tax benefits of the less restricted trade the EU allows them to have. Clearly Brexit would be a huge blow to their business ventures. Not only that, there are languages service providers who work with these companies providing translation services who will also be negatively affected in one way or another.

Should Britain remain in the EU or leave? Let us know your thoughts below.

Image: Descrier

How translation services failed Roy Hodgson ahead of Euro 2016 clash

Translation services play a major role in football as football is played all over the globe by many different players from different countries and therefore is translated into numerous languages.

Translations in football is no more evident than at a major tournament, be it the biggest stage in football which is The World cup; the pinnacle of European national football, the European championships which features a plethora of languages across Europe; the Copa America which consists of mostly Spanish countries from South America as well as Brazilian Portuguese and English (If USA and Jamaica are invited); the African cup of Nations which includes diverse nations from the whole African continent; the AFC Asia Cup which includes Asia and Australia and the European Champions League final which is probably the world’s biggest club football final. 

So with football being such a global event, the need for language to language translations is prevalent and essential. It would have not been possible to stage The FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany without some form of German translation services.

The same goes for The European Championships of 2004 which was hosted by the nation of Portugal so therefore good Portuguese translation services were needed in order to make the event run smoothly for everyone involved. Of course without these services how would fans know how to get around from place to place if the language is not familiar to them?

So with translation services being utilised so much in these big events it is bound to produce a fail now and again. This is exactly what happened to England manager Roy Hodgson ahead of England’s Euro 2016 first group stage clash against Russia. After comments from the Russian manager Leonid Slutsky about Wayne Rooney not being the same player he once was, the Manchester United striker and England captain was answering some tense questions alongside Hodgson at a pre-game press conference.

A Russian journalist started to direct a question at the pair in his native Russian tongue. It was at this point Hodgson reached for his headphones in order to get a Russian to English translation only to be bamboozled by the headphones in which he then claimed didn’t cover his ears. Rooney then began to laugh at his manager’s misfortune which cut the tension at the conference. Hodgson managed to get himself sorted whilst looking a bit embarrassed by the whole commotion.

Backlash for Fiat Argentina due to misogynistic car manual

Backlash for Fiat Argentina due to misogynistic car manual

Another day another story of big brands simply producing non-thoughtful content (sighs)! Now in this case it wasn’t your typical lack of well researched information or a lack of professional translation services to translate content from one language to another, it instead was almost a ride back to the past where misogyny was very prevalent in advertising and mainstream media.  The topic in question relates to the car giant that is Fiat and specifically its Argentinian base.

The topic in question relates to a pamphlet Fiat handed out alongside its official handbook to new customers who purchased a car. What is in the pamphlet is what is shocking and has outraged many people specifically a women’s groups in Argentina with one  specific group called ‘Ni una menos’ of which the Spanish to English translation means ‘Not one less’ taking to Facebook to summarise the blatant misogynistic content that was found in the pamphlet.

Some of the content that was written reads:

If a lady’s skirt is too short, we recommend that she travel in the backseat to keep our concentration.”

It also reads; “if the skirt is not that short but you tend to have a wandering hand, she should also travel behind.”

The booklet which seems to give advice to the male buyer also seemed to address the male driver as ‘driver with love’ and the female companion as ‘co-pilot’.

The pamphlet which referred to women as “co-pilot” stated that “any woman who aspires to become a co-pilot must at least have nice legs”.

Many people have taken to Twitter to air their frustrations towards the Italian company which has led to Fiat Argentina’s representative issuing an apology on their official twitter account stating that they had never intended any “disrespect”.

Fiat has also withdrawn their car pamphlet amid the backlash received.

Let us know your thoughts.

Fiat image source: nick@

Is this the most racist advert ever?

A Chinese washing powder advert has been doing the rounds on the internet recently, now you might think a washing powder ad what’s the worst that could happen? You are probably thinking how can something as mundane as washing powder possibly go viral? Well this Chinese retail advertisement did just that and more which has led it to be seen as one of the biggest controversies of recent times, it has even been dubbed as the ‘most racist commercial ever’.

The advert in question was one commissioned by the Shanghai Leishang Cosmetics Ltd for their Qiaobi laundry detergent. There are no words spoken in the video so there was no need for retail translations services as mostly comical music and sound effects were used.

It features a young Asian actress and a black actor, the actor who has paint marks on his face from working, eyes the woman who is assumed to be the homeowner who smiles back at the man whilst standing beside a washing machine. He ‘wolf-whistles’ the woman then approaches her and puts his hands on her waist and goes in for a kiss, the woman at this point stuffs a washing tablet into his mouth and throws him into the washing machine where you hear comical screams as the lady sits on top of the lid to keep it shut, let’s be honest in reality that would be brutal and lead to a prison sentence. After the cycle has finished and most shockingly a fair-skinned Asian man emerges from the washing machine much to the woman’s adulation. He then holds the brands product to the screen and winks.

Now you don’t need Mandarin translation services to tell you what is going on here, in fact this advert will translate into any language in the world as a massive mistake.

After all this global condemning and outrage of the advert Leishang Cosmetics have apologised for any ‘harm’ they caused to African people and expressed their condemnation of racial discrimination. They also went on further to say that they take full responsibility of the content and that the media have ‘over-amplified’ the situation. Make of that what you will.

What are your thoughts on this? Have they gone too far or is this simply naivety?