Around the web – November 2021

Here are November’s most popular news articles, blog posts, and stories about translation and language.

• The end of the year is fast approaching, and Oxford Languages as well as Cambridge Dictionaries  have both announced their Word(s) of the Year.

Last year Oxford languages decided it was impossible to sum up 2020 in a single word

• Last month there was a lot of talk about the subtitling of “Squid Games”. This has now progressed to more far-reaching discussions about the “shortage” of subtitle translators, which is in fact simply due to a lack of fair working conditions
• This month I took a class in how to create videos, so I was interested to see Madalena Zampaulo’s article about 5 ways to use video content to market our translation or interpreting businesses
• Staying on the subject of video, ZingWord asked whether YouTube is a worthwhile resource for translators

Video content is all the rage on the internet nowadays

• The winner of the 2021 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation has been announced
• 50% of Americans admit to using slang without knowing what it means
• A study has shown that language switching is natural for those who are bilingual “because the brain has a mechanism that does not detect that the language has switched“

Korean steak tacos with cabbage cilantro exemplify natural biculturalism

• Why is the latest COVID variant called “Omicron”?
• Here’s a man who refuses to treat one language as deserving of a louder voice or bigger platform than any other language

What chocolate Kinder Surprise Eggs can tell us about language

• Why has the entry of “iel” in the online edition of France’s Le Petit Robert dictionary stoked the ire of many French politicians, intellectuals & journalists?

Elsewhere on the blog

• Around the web – October 2021
• Around the web – September 2021