Japanese Translation Agency Arc Communications – Blog

Miscommunications of spellings are a common occurrence when giving information such as e-mail addresses over the phone. With e-mail addresses, misinter-preting just a single letter can lead to a transmission error resulting in your message failing to deliver to the intended recipient. This is a problem that occurs between Jap-anese people also, but how can we deal with it when speaking over the phone in Eng-lish? The spelling alphabet is a means of preventing miscommunications like these when spelling over the phone. Let's master this technique and get rid of our apprehen-sions about phone calls in English!

A spelling alphabet is a method of accurately communicating English let-ters in situations where visually checking the proper way of writing something is not an option, such as during conversations over the phone. For example, the spelling of "ARC" is conveyed like "A for Apple, R for Russia, C for China." Even in Japanese, "9" and "Q" have the same pronunciation and a distinction between the two is made using phrases like "the number 9" and "the English Q". The similar-sounding and easily-misheard numbers "1" (ichi) and "7" (shichi) are clarified by using "ichi" and "nana" (an alternative pronunciation of seven) instead.

It is no surprise that differences exist within the same language depending on the region, just as with Japanese, where standard language and regional dialects differ. As Japanese, the more English we learn, the more curious we become about the differences between American English and British English. At times, these differences may even cause us to feel that something is off-key with a conversation. Simply being aware that variations exist within the same language makes a difference to our communication. Let's take a look at the fundamental differences between American English and British English.

American English and British English sometimes adopt different words, despite the fact that they express the same meaning.

Spanish is spoken in not only Spain but also several countries in Latin America. As a matter of fact, Spanish words are adopted in parts of Japanese and many use them without even knowing where they come from. For example, Spanish-originated words include "pan", "karuta" and "kasutera". We guess that many of you have heard greetings such as "Adios" and "Como estas". Because pronunciation as Roman letters is OK and word order is relatively loose, Spanish can be one of the easiest languages for the Japanese to learn.

Spanish is a language inherited from "Vulgar Latin," which is the colloquial language of Latin used in the Roman Empire. In the region where Spain is currently located, there used to be a number of small realms. Among those realms, the Realm of Castile turned dominant, and its language became the standard language in Spain. For this reason, Spanish is also known as castellano. Or, it is sometimes called "espanol," which originated from the Latin name of the Iberian Peninsula.

A user interface (UI) provides a bridge between an operating system (OS) or software and users by showing operation menus, buttons, messages and other elements. It plays a significant role in making an OS and software easier to use. For translation in the IT field, UI translation may be what ordinary users most frequently see. Here we will introduce you to some of the key points in UI translation.

You may call UI the face of software. Whenever you work using a PC, you will see messages or menus such as "OK", "No", "Save" and "Edit". No matter how sophisticated software's design and functions are, however, a UI that is difficult to use can prevent the functions from being fully leveraged, resulting in the software being lower evaluated. Therefore, it is safe to say that a UI determines your impression of a software.

Canada is called a "mosaic nation" where various ethnic groups reside as the country accepts a lot of immigrants. In Canada, immigrants from approximately 100 countries are accepted by, in particular, the Province of Quebec, located in Eastern Canada. Residents in Quebec speak a version of French called "Quebec French" or "Canadian French." We will introduce you to what you should know in business development in Quebec as well as the history and characteristics of Canadian French.

Generally, it may be considered that Canada belongs to an English-speaking region. Actually, various cultures and languages originating from a wide variety of regions exist in Canada, which actively accepts a large number of immigrants from countries around the world. In particular, immigrants from approximately 100 countries are accepted by the Province of Quebec, which is five times as large as Japan. A large number of people emigrated from France to Quebec in the 1600s, causing French to be used as the official language in Quebec even now.