10 incredible facts about translation and languages

Take a look at ten of the most incredible facts about translation and languages.

1.The profession of translation dates back over 2,000 years. The translation industry has grown significantly over the years, beginning with the translation of the Old Testament into Greek in the middle of the third century BC. The industry has definitely come a long way since that initial translation, with revenues anticipated to exceed $26.2 billion by the end of this year.

2.The spread of scientific information has relied heavily on translation. For example, Gabrielle-Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquise du Châtelet, an eighteenth-century physicist, was the first to interpret Isaac Newton's law of universal gravitation into French.

3.Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Polish, Russian, Turkish, and Danish are the six hardest languages for English speakers to master. Interestingly, Mandarin is the most widely spoken language in the world; however, because of its tonal structure, it is quite subtle, and there are a great amount of characters to memorize. Because of the difficulties, hiring a professional translation business to work on translation projects involving various languages is very important.

4.According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Agatha Christie, Jules Verne, and William Shakespeare are the top three most translated authors in the world (UNESCO). Professional translation services are crucial in assisting authors in reaching out to worldwide audiences.

5.It may come as no surprise that The Holy Bible is the most translated text of all time, with portions of it having been translated into 3,384 languages. There are roughly 611,000 words in the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek manuscripts. 

6.When people think of the most translated content, they likely are thinking about books or literatures; however, it turns out that songs can also be widely translated. The song “Golden Dreams of Gandhiji” was recorded in 125 languages by Indian artist Dr. Kesiraju Srinivas.

7.A little-known fact regarding translators is that they were the ones who invented some alphabets. James Evans, for example, devised Cree syllabics, which are used to write Canada's most widely spoken Indigenous language. Saints Cyril and Methodius also created the Cyrillic alphabet, which is still used to write Serbian, Bulgarian, and Russian, as well as several other languages.

8.Individuals may not think of languages as endangered, but they account for over 40% of the world's languages; some of these languages have fewer than 1,000 people who speak them.

9.Despite the fact that the world has 7,139 languages, only 23 are spoken by more than half of the world's population. A certified translation services provider should be able to help with almost any language pair, whether it is endangered or widely spoken.

10.The United States does not have an official language. Despite the fact that English is the most widely spoken language in the country, it is not recognized as an official language. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States, after English.

 How might I’M Translation and ISiS Korea aid translations?

At I’M Translation and ISiS Korea, we can connect you with a professional translators and interpreters. We have over 30+ languages available on our platform and we are flexible and available regardless of the language pair, topic, and time zone. Please visit us at www.imtranslation.com and www.isiskorea.com/eng to request a free translation and interpretation quote. Thank you!

 

References

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-amazing-facts-translation-languages-bruce-li/