The world of languages is fascinating. A new language can be your key to a new world as it helps you know a new culture, people and their perspectives. In this regard, language interpreters in USA or any other place, play a major role in connecting you with the rest of the world. Over here, we have discussed a few facts about language interpretation that might fascinate you further:
1. A 2007 study by the Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania found that there are around 6,900 languages across the globe. Out of this, about 2000 languages have less than 1000 speakers.
2. 93% of all the interpreters and translators working around the world work independently. With benefits such as flexibility in making work schedules and choice of assignments, freelancing has emerged as one of the popular choices among language interpreters and translators.
3. The Romance Languages include Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and French. The term Roman Language was derived from the Latin phrase “Romanice Loqui” which means to speak in Roman language.
4. Sacagawea, a Shoshone interpreter during the 18th century played an important part in the history of the USA. She played a vital part in the Lewis and Clarke expedition in 1804.
5. 15th April is celebrated as ASL (American Sign Language) Day. This is the day when the first deaf school was opened in America. The ASL was used by the deaf and dumb since the early 1800; however, it got recognition as an independent language during the early 1960s.
6. Valentin Berezhkov was a prominent Russian interpreter who worked for Joseph Stalin. He was involved in important international conferences. This includes the Tehran Conference in 1943 where he interpreted for both Joseph Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov.
7. Like others languages the American Sign Language also has polysemy. This means, a single word or phrase having multiple meanings. This is tough to interpret in the case of ASL as two signs might look similar and differ only in terms of hand movement, placement, shape and orientation.
8. Between 17th to 19th century, the French language was famous as the international language. However, during the 20th century, it was replaced by English. Today, there are more than 75 million people around the world who speak French. This is also the official language of countries such as France, Haiti, Luxembourg and over 15 other African nations. French is also one of the official languages of Switzerland, Belgium,and Canada.
9. Do you know that the last words of Albert Einstein will never be known? This is because he spoke in German language and the nurse attending to him didn’t understand German!
10. Mandarin Chinese is the most popular language in the world. There are over 1 billion speakers around the globe who speak this language.
We hope that these facts will help you understand the importance of interpretation services. In case you are too looking for interpretation and translating services, call us at 1-800-864-0372.