by Hammed Sonny | Dec 14, 2021 | Arab
In the southernmost region of the Iberian Peninsula, there is a mere 13 km separating Spain and Morocco. With that narrow distance in mind, it seems only logical that there have been interactions between the Spanish and Arabic languages. However, Spanish and Arabic have a shared history that goes far beyond geographical distance. In fact, this history spans thousands of years, dating back to the Muslim rule of Al-Andalus, an area which is now the location of Spain and Portugal. This period of Islamic rule, during a period called the Islamic Golden Age, had a great deal of influence on the Spanish language, ranging from the use of Arabic loanwords in modern Spanish, to place names and surnames.
History of the relationship between Arabic and Spanish
Whilst Old Spanish, also known as Old Castilian, was a dialect of Vulgar Latin, the modern version of Spanish that exists today owes a great deal to Arabic. For instance, there are an estimated 4,000 loanwords in modern Spanish from Arabic. The primary reason for the sustained influence of the Arabic language on the development of the Spanish language was the result of Muslim rule of the Iberian Peninsula, between 711 and 1492, leading to the creation of a region referred to historians as Al-Andalus. After the Umayyad Caliphate’s conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, the Umayyad Emirate of Cordoba was established in July 711. Following the Umayyad Caliphate’s collapse in the 1010s, the region became the principalities known as Taifas. The region then changed hands between the Almoravids, the Almohads, the Marinids, and finally the Emirate of Granada. During the periods of rule by these different groups, the population of Al-Andalusia initially spoke several different Romance dialects, which are referred to as Mozarabic (also known as Andalusia Romance). This language was dominant in the region until the Late Middle Ages, after which different Arabic dialects, known as Andalusi Arabic, were more widely spoken by the region’s populace. Although these languages eventually became extinct, they had numerous influences on Castilian Spanish, which became the Spain’s official language in the 15th century and is still spoken to this day.
What are some examples of the Arabic language’s influence on Spanish?
There are plenty of examples of the influence of Arabic on Spanish, such as the use of the Arabic definite article “al” in Spanish nouns. For instance, this influence can be seen with the Spanish word for pillow (“almohada”), wallflower (“alhelí”), and invoice (“albarán”). Plenty of words relating to agriculture, the military and science can be found in the Spanish vocabulary, such as algodón (cotton), limón (lemon), alcazabas (citadels), álgebra, cifra (cypher), and alquimia (alchemy). In addition to this, other words borrowed from the Arabic language include “aceituna” from زيتون, or zaytun (meaning olive), café from قهوة, or qahua (meaning coffee), and azucar from السكر, or alsukar, (meaning sugar). Many names of Spanish towns and cities derive from Arabic, such as Alcántara, which originates from the Arabic word al qantara (القنطرة), meaning bridge, as well as Gibraltar (from the Arabic Gibr al-Tariq, meaning “Rock of Tariq”), and Andalucia, from the Arabic “Al-Andalus”. The Spanish language has also borrowed a verb-subject-object (VSO) word order and the suffix “í” from Arabic
How has Spanish culture been influenced by Arabic?
Arabic’s influence on Spanish culture is not just limited to ocabulary. The Moorish hold on the Iberian Peninsula was so firm and long-standing that we can still see remnants of the rule. Along with Arabic words that were adapted to the Romance languages, Arab Muslim artistic influences prevailed.
The Islamic influence on Spanish folk music is immediately apparent. For instance, the Aragonese jota, and Valencian alba are strongly reminiscent of Islamic chants. The five-tone scale of the Arabic zajal spawned gypsy music and cante jondo (T.B Irving). The Flamenco was also a direct descendant of Arab musical styles. Components such as the cante (singing), bail (dancing), toque (guitar) and jaleo (rhythm) were directly influenced by the Arabs and Berbers who inhabited Spain. The sounds used in the cante, such as ‘lelelele’ and ‘ayayay’ are derived from the Arabic invocations and exclamations such as ‘Ya ‘ain!’ (O eye!). The creation of flamenco symbolises the interaction between Muslims and Christians on the fringes of society following the persecution of religious outliers by the Spanish inquisition in 1492. It represents a unity between people culminating in artistic cross-pollination. The name Flamenco itself is thought to have been derived from the Arabic fallah manjo (fugitive peasant).
The Spanish absorbed many other aspects of Arab culture. For instance, the Arabic numerals, which are now used worldwide, and algebra. Aristotelian philosophy which was a key aspect of Spanish political discourse, such as during the Valladolid debate, was reintroduced to Europe by the Muslims. Many technological innovations such as irrigation were also introduced which facilitated the production of agriculture.
Why should an Arabic speaker learn Spanish and vice versa?
Spanish is considered a universal language; it is the official language of twenty countries and the second most spoken language in the world. It is extremely beneficial for those who travel frequently. It can also enhance job opportunities because of the abundance of international Spanish speakers.
Moreover, Arabic is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Arabic countries such as the UAE are leaders in commerce and being able to interact with the people who live there could be very useful in your career. Indeed, Arabic speakers are in very high demand for many jobs. Furthermore, you’ll gain an insight into a rich and fascinating history that is often overlooked.
Moreover, as mentioned before, the two languages share a lot of vocabulary. There are also some shared letter pronunciations that don’t exist in many other European countries such as the guttural ‘j’ sound and rolled ‘r’. Learning Spanish requires approximately 600 hours of learning, whereas Arabic requires 2200 hours and is considered one of the hardest languages to learn. However, Spanish speakers tend to pick up Arabic a lot quicker than others due to the similarities in the languages.
Concluding Thoughts
The history of the Spanish and Arabic languages are uniquely intertwined. This connection is symbolised through the exchange of language, knowledge, and music. The speakers of each language may find a special significance in learning the other language, and a deeper understanding of each culture respectively.
by Hammed Sonny | Dec 2, 2021 | Translation
With the increasing popularity of and ease of access granted by online streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and more, a greater number of people find themselves watching films and TV shows in a language other than their own, with some recent popular examples like Dark, Call my Agent!, and My Name. With this recent phenomenon in mind, it is worth noting how most viewers don’t really consider just how films and shows such as these travel from their original, native-language format to arrive at the subbed or dubbed version that foreign audiences see. So, let us tell you about the ins and outs of translating for screen.
Subtitling
Subtitling is the process of adding small sections of text to audio-visual media that corresponds with the words being spoken on screen. Closed captions, which are similar to subtitles but not entirely the same, are text that corresponds not just to dialogue, but with other parts of the audio, such as music and sound effects. Most audio-visual media will have the option to display subtitles regardless of what language the original media is in, for the purpose of those who are deaf or hard of hearing. At the same time, a study by Ofcom found that over 80% of viewers who use subtitles do not fall into this category; many viewers use subtitles when surrounded by background noise or when watching on public transport where low or muted volume may be necessary. As such, the demand for subtitled media is huge and not just in the case of translating a foreign language. When subtitling media in a foreign language, the use of dubbing or subbing often depends on the country. The UK, Scandinavian countries, Belgium, and some countries in the Balkan area massively prefer their media subbed – this is for two main reasons. One, the countries are relatively small in size with a smaller audience, so subtitling is a more cost-effective method. Secondly, most of the above countries (excluding the UK for obvious reasons) have a fair proficiency in English, so can often understand (and prefer) the original audio (when in English) with the aid of subtitles.
The process of subtitling for the screen has several steps; firstly, translators are presented with a transcript of the source media and occasionally time markers that correspond to the frames of film. The translations are then proofread and checked for grammar and spelling errors, while also being checked for correct localisation – this means that dialogue will be translated in a way that keeps the cultural understanding, references, and idiosyncrasies of the target audience in mind. Afterwards, the engineering side of subtitling begins, with text added to the film or television show with assurance that text lines up with the correct frames and lines of dialogue, remaining on screen for just the right amount of time. The final stage of the process is that of Quality Control – an audience of native speakers will watch the end product to check that everything will translate and flow well for the potential audience. This fairly technical process that relies on being as accurate and as culturally sensitive as possible is one of the main reasons why employing human subtitlers and translators is far superior to relying on machine automated translation, which is almost always shockingly bad. As with any method, subtitling has both its advantages and disadvantages.
Pros:
- Compared to dubs, subtitles are far cheaper to produce, and on a smaller scale, easier to do in a DIY situation.
- Subtitles allow the viewer to have a more immersive experience, hearing the original voices of the actors on screen, whereas dubs can be somewhat jarring in this regard.
- Subtitles can help improve language comprehension skills in whatever language the film is originally in – hearing the spoken word and reading its translation in real time is one of the more entertaining ways to immerse yourself in learning a language.
Cons:
- Some find subtitles can distract from the action on screen. In some cases, poor subtitling with incorrectly timed transitions can ruin the audience’s viewing experience.
- Subtitles only have limited time and space on screen, which often means translations into the target language must summarise or shorten the original dialogue in order to keep up with the pace of the film. Because of this, sometimes meaning is lost in translation alongside (occasionally) minor details relevant to the plot.
Dubbing
The ‘audio’ to subtitling’s ‘visual’, dubbing is a post-production process that involves the re-recording of a film or TV show’s original dialogue into the language of the target audience – this dialogue is then lip synched to match the onscreen actor’s lip movement. Dubbing is often synonymous with over the top, unnatural delivery to those in ‘non-dub’ countries (it would be very odd to see a television programme dubbed in the UK, for instance), but dubbing is the preferred method of screen translation for countries like France, Spain, Germany, and many Latin American countries. A lot of the time, dubbing is a more economically viable option in these countries, as a large potential audience justifies the costs involved in the process – for this reason, countries with populations of over 50 million will prefer dubs to subs. Historically, dubbing was interestingly used as a method of censorship – Fascist Germany, Spain, and Italy were reluctant to have ‘foreign ideas’ influence their citizens, so foreign media was dubbed – thankfully, this is obviously no longer the reason behind dubbing in these countries, with audiences preferring the format that they have simply grown up with. In terms of the dubbing process itself, high scale productions will often hire well-known actors who are native speakers of the target language to be part of the dubbing cast. In some cases, actors in one language will have the same dub actor used for more than one role – German voice actor Manfred Lehmann has been the official German ‘voice’ of Bruce Willis for over 25 years, for example! Like subtitles, dubs also have their fair share of pros and cons.
Pros:
- Dubs are more likely to reach a wider audience, particularly in countries that are more used to them.
- It goes without saying that dubbing provides jobs for voice actors, who can often make dubbed dialogue just as effective as that in the original language.
- Because there is no reading involved, dubs can be easier to follow for some.
- As with subtitles, watching dubbed TV shows and films can be used to aid language learning – choosing to watch the foreign dub of a show or film originally in one’s native language is a unique way of practicing one’s target language.
Cons:
- Compared to subtitled media, the dubbed equivalent is far more expensive and time consuming to produce.
- Not all actors used in dubbing are necessarily right for the job – badly dubbed martial-arts films in English from the 70s and 80s are a good example of this. For this reason, the audience may feel like they are listening to someone reading words off a cue card instead of capturing the emotion of the original vocal performance in the source language. This can obviously diminish the viewing experience.
- To try and keep up with the pace of the film and the lip movements of the actors on screen, it is often necessary for the original dialogue to be chopped and changed to save time, which can often make the delivery of dubbed lines sound too abrupt and unnatural.
- Although not always the case, insisting on solely dubbed media (rather than offering dual options of subs and dubs like many streaming services do) creates a precedent of being unwilling to engage with other languages and cultures – this is often the case with English, as many consider it to be the ‘default’ language, which is somewhat close-minded.
Voice Over
Voice overs work to replace the original audio of a production with one suited to a specific target language. The newly translated audio is carefully synced to the visual elements of the movie or TV show, which enables it to be enjoyed by a wider variety of audiences from around the world. Content creators are likely to turn to the use of voice over in some form if they wish to expand their repertoire and reach a bigger audience. Lip synching is quite often the most common use of voice over in film; however it is also the most complex approach to achieving the desired outcome. It is most linked with foreign films and the aim is to bring them to a worldwide audience. An incredibly talented translator will take the original video and carefully analyse the lip movement and speech to seamlessly match their translated audio files over the top- this is a very lengthy and meticulous process.
Pros:
. The content becomes more engaging for the viewer, meaning they can follow the storyline in their native language.
. The screen doesn’t get crowded with extra text as there are no subtitles to read from.
. It makes material more accessible to everybody, meaning an increase in influence for the makers, but also more exciting content for its viewers.
Cons:
. It can sometimes cost considerably more to work on voice over translation as opposed to subtitles, it ultimately depends on the budget from the creators.
. From time to time, the voice over does not always match the actors lip movements, gestures, or actions completely. This can sometimes be off-putting and frustrating for the viewers.
The resounding success of translation in film and TV Shows
It is extremely likely that as viewers we have seen these translation techniques in action in one place or another. There are many examples of highly popular TV shows who have used translation to widen their audience, with many of these breaking boundaries and records with the introduction of their TV shows. If we take Squid Game as an example, the gripping K Drama is quite possibly one of the most watched series on Netflix ever. This was thanks to translation methods making it more watchable for viewers- with the use of dubbing and voice overs. By translating the show from Korean into a vast array of target languages, the creators had skyrocketed their status and views. This is a perfect example of how translation can open doors to new viewers. A further example is Netflix hit drama series Money Heist, their seamless use of dubbing has enabled the series to go global! Some viewers have even reported watching the series completely in Spanish in conjunction with studying the language. This could suggest to us that the use of foreign TV and Film is somewhat educational to those who want to learn from it.
Final thoughts
It is clear that each method of translation has its pros and cons, so ultimately the method you use will depend on your desired outcome. We have adopted the use of translation to enable us to enjoy our favourite TV shows and films with ease. The translation industry really does go hand in hand with the entertainment field, as more content creators are taking the time to break down barriers and open up their productions to a wider audience.
If you require a translation service, visit Crystal Clear Translation for a quote.
by Hammed Sonny | Nov 29, 2021 | Europe
(Written by Callum Madle and Phoebe Harrison)
If you’re considering taking up another language, Spanish is a good starter option, particularly for native speakers of English or any Romance language, particularly French, Portuguese, and Italian. If you are looking to saber más but are unsure of where to start, we’ve compiled some of the basic facts to help you on your language learning journey!
Spanish – what’s in a language?
Spanish is one of the ‘big five’ Romance languages, with the others being French, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian, though Ethnologue places the total number of languages belonging to the family as 44. Romance languages are the languages descended from the Vulgar Latin spoken in the regions of Europe under the rule of the Roman Empire. Spanish is an Ibero-Romance language, a term referring to the group of languages in the Romance family spoken on the Iberian Peninsula (Portuguese, Galician, Leonese, and Catalan being the other main family members). Outside of Spain itself, Spanish is also the primary language of South America, being the first language of every country in the region with the exception of Brazil. There are also Spanish speaking pockets across the world in Africa and Asia. On a global scale, it is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world and is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, alongside English, French, Chinese, Arabic, and Russian.
¿Cómo se aprende Español?
When learning a new language, the best approach is to firstly get to grips with general pronunciation and basic grammar and syntax rules – here is an overview of the main aspects of the Spanish language that you should really know.
Alphabet and pronunciation
Spanish mostly uses the same alphabet as English, but W and K aren’t commonly found in the language outside of foreign loanwords, such as ‘whiski’ (it doesn’t take a genius to work out that one). There are 27 scripted letters in the Spanish alphabet, but over 39 phonetic sounds in the language overall. Generally, Spanish pronunciation is fairly straightforward as it is a phonetic language, meaning most words are pronounced exactly how they are spelt – however, there are a few small rules that are necessary to remember…
C has two main sounds – before ‘i’ or ‘e’, it is pronounced like an English ‘s’ or, depending on which region of Spain you’re from, as a ‘th’ noise (I would recommend the former for beginners as it is far easier). Before a, o, u, and consonants, a ‘hard’ c is used, like the English ‘k’ sound.
Examples: campo (KAM-poh), cine (SEE-ney or THEE-ney),
E is pronounced with an ‘ay’ noise, like ‘hey’ and ‘say’ in English, especially at the end of the word – when it is in the middle of a word, it is pronounced slightly more softly.
Examples: leche (LEH-CHAY), noche (noh-CHAY)
G also has two main sounds – before ‘i’ or ‘e’, it is pronounced like the English ‘h’, and before a, o , u, and consonants, like the English hard ‘g’.
Examples: genial (HEN-ee-al), gato (GAH-toh)
H is ALWAYS silent
Examples: hola (OH-lah), hombre (OHM-bray)
I is pronounced as ‘ee’, as in ‘see’ and ‘knee’.
Examples – chico (chEE-koh), tiempo (‘tEE-em-poh’)
J is pronounced like the English ‘h’.
Examples: jugo (‘HOO-goh’) and ojo (‘oHo’)
L and LL – on its own, L is pronounced in the same way as it is in English (alto – ‘AHL-toh’) but LL takes on the role of a ‘y’ in English.
Examples: Amarillo (‘ah-mah-ri-YO’), pollo (‘poh-YO’)
N and Ñ – Spanish uses N like English does, but the Ñ is pronounced like the ‘nio’ part of ‘onion’. The easiest way to remember this is imagining that someone has written a very small ‘y’ next to the n.
Examples: Español (‘ess-pan-YOL’), señor (‘sen-YOR’)
Q is almost always followed by the letter U and is pronounced like the English K
Examples: queso (KEH-so), quien (‘KEE-en’)
R is pronounced as in English, but RR will mean that practicing rolling your ‘r’s is something you may want to consider!
V is pronounced like a very soft ‘b’ in English, which can be occasionally confusing at first.
Examples: vaso (‘BAH-so’), vive (‘BEE-BAY’)
Z is similar to C in that it is pronounced either like an English ‘s’ or ‘th’ depending on your preference or the type of Spanish you want to learn.
Examples: zumo (‘SOO-moh/THOO-moh’), taza (‘ta-SAH/ta-THA’)
Grammar and Syntax
With pronunciation covered, it is useful to consider some of the basic grammar and syntax rules of Spanish, too.
- Like English, Spanish sentences follow the SVO (subject-verb-object) order, though there can be some flexibility.
- As with other Romance languages, nouns are either MASCULINE or FEMENINE, with changes in spelling depending on which group a noun belongs to. This may sound daunting, but the difference between masculine and feminine words is fairly easy to spot, especially in Spanish. Feminine nouns almost always end in a, d, or z, alongside the ‘-ción’ ending.
- Masculine nouns end in o, an accented vowel (such as á rather than just a), or the ending ‘-ma’. Once you learn to recognise these patterns, worrying over masculine and feminine words becomes less of a problem – of course, there are exceptions to every rule, but this is something that can be picked up as your proficiency in the language increases.
- Adjectives come after the noun in about 90% of cases and must agree with the gender and number of the noun in question. Instead of ‘the red skirt’, in Spanish we would have ‘the skirt red’ – la falda roja (‘roja’ is the feminine form of ‘rojo’, or ‘red’).
- Spanish verbs follow slightly more extensive rules than they do in English. They are conjugated (changed in spelling/form) depending on the subject of the sentence (I, you, he/she/it etc). Verbs are separated into three families – those ending in –ar, –er, and –ir, with patterns for conjugating each family. There are a fair number of irregular verbs, but they themselves usually follow a pattern and can be learned as you go along.
- Spanish uses a lot of the same verb tenses as in English, but there are some tenses which are strange to English speakers. For instance, Spanish uses the subjunctive tense to describe hypothetical events that may or may not happen. Although learning the subjunctive cannot be avoided, it is something that beginners to the language do not have to panic about – at the end of the day, it is just another tense, albeit with slightly more specific rules.
- Ser Estar – Spanish uses two verbs for ‘to be’. The first (‘ser’) is used when describing things which are permanent, such as someone’s personality or appearance, (such as ‘ella es alta’ – she is tall) or just generally established fact. ‘Estar’ is used to describe the location of the subject as well as non-permanent states – for example, ‘estoy feliz’ (I am happy) or ‘el perro está en el jardín’ (the dog is in the garden). It may sound irritating, but this is a rule which quickly becomes easy to remember, as often context will make it clear which form of the verb should be used.
These are the main rules of Spanish that anyone new to the language should try and keep in mind – however, it is worth noting that as strange and unnatural as some of these rules may seem, they do become far easier to remember over time! ¡Suerte!
Key Spanish Phrases
- Hola – Hello
- Adiós – Goodbye
- Por favor – Please
- Gracias – Thank you
- Lo siento – Sorry
- Buenos días – Good morning
- Buenas tardes – Good afternoon
- Buenas noches – Good evening
- Me llamo… – My name is…
- ¿Cómo te llamas? – What’s your name?
- Mucho gusto – Nice to meet you
- ¿Cómo estás? – How are you?
- ¿Qué hora es? – What time is it?
Is Spanish a Useful Language to Learn?
Aside from being an incredibly interesting language to learn, Spanish is also the second most widely spoken language in the world, with 471 million speakers globally. Learning the Spanish language could significantly widen your career prospects, by broadening your ability to find work not only in Europe but also in the nine Spanish-speaking countries in South America. As many companies seek to expand their reach in the global economy, Spanish interpreters and translators will be highly sought after, especially considering that Spanish-speaking countries in South America have some of the largest gross domestic product (GDP) in the region. In addition to the benefits of learning Spanish to your career, you can also benefit culturally from learning the language. There are plenty of excellent films, TV series and music in the Spanish language that will be within your reach by learning Spanish, such as Pan’s Labyrinth, Roma, La casa de papel (Money Heist), or the genre of Latin Music. Why deprive yourself of the amazing works of directors like Pedro Almodóvar and Pablo Larraín, or renowned Spanish writers such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez? Consuming media in the language you want to learn can aid greatly in the learning of a language, so you could easily start expanding your Spanish vocabulary today!
Concluding Thoughts
There are plenty of practical reasons to learn Spanish, especially as it is the second most widely spoken language in the world. Not to mention the possible financial and career benefits of learning Spanish, choosing to learn Spanish as a second language can significantly widen your cultural and social horizons by introducing you to new films, literature, and new people! If you require translation or interpreting services in any language, you can get a quote here from Crystal Clear Translation.
by Hammed Sonny | Nov 21, 2021 | Languages
( Written by Callum Madle and Phoebe Harrison)
As of 2021, estimates show that there are over 7,139 languages spoken in the world today, a figure that is constantly changing as languages simultaneously die out and grow in speakers – indeed, over 40% of languages are considered to be ‘endangered’, and only 23 languages out of over 7,000 account for half the world’s population. It would take a long time to read about all 7,139 of our world’s languages, so we’ve compiled a profile of the top ten.
English
Depending on which criteria you use for ‘most widely spoken’ (i.e., as a first/native language or including as a second language) English comes either first, second, or third. In terms of just how many people can and do speak English however, it would be illogical to not claim that it is without a doubt the most ‘widely’ spoken language, often considered the international language. English boasts around 1.35 billion speakers worldwide as both a first or second language and is an official language in almost 67 countries, as well as being a co-official language of the United Nations. The reach of the English language is often a controversial subject, as much of its influence is owed to Britain’s colonial history, especially in Africa, India, and parts of the Far East. English belongs to the Germanic languages tree, (specifically West Germanic), and therefore has similarities with languages like Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, and German, though it also contains a huge number of loan words and expressions of French origin, owing in part to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, as well as the general influence of Latin in both culture and society. English uses the Latin writing system and follows the SVO (Subject/Verb/Object) sentence structure. It is also a language with much hybridity, with a huge variance in dialects, accents, and idioms, to such an extent that in its home country of England, an accent can change within even a small ten-mile radius!
Mandarin Chinese
With a population close to 1.4 billion people, China is home to approximately 302 living languages, which can be divided into 10 main languages groups. The variety of Chinese that is mostly widely spoken and is most recognisable is what we know as Mandarin Chinese (or Pǔtōnghuà / 普通话). A close second to English in terms of the number of general speakers it has, over 1.120 billion people use Mandarin Chinese, with most speakers (955 million, to be exact) residing in China itself. Mandarin is one of the Sinitic languages, a name referring to a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family tree that encompasses over 400 languages, including many Chinese languages, Burmese, and Tibetic languages. Like many languages of its kind, Mandarin uses very specific and often very complex writing systems. The two main ones are the Chinese characters called hànzì (literally ‘Han characters’) and pinyin, the Romanised version of standard Mandarin Chinese, often used in teaching Mandarin to beginners. The hànzì are logograms, a written character that represents a word or morpheme. Estimates predict that there are over 50,000 Chinese characters in total, though most people will only know and use around 8,000, needing only roughly 2-3,000 to read the daily newspaper, much in the same way that native English speakers don’t know every single word in English!
Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language, with four main tones and a ‘neutral tone’. When learning Chinese, it is impossible to avoid memorising the correct inflection or pronunciation of specific words due to their tone – you could either be saying ‘mother’ or ‘horse’ depending on where you place the spoken emphasis! Despite (or perhaps owing to) its complexity, Mandarin Chinese is language that is rapidly growing in demand, particularly due to increased trade with China, with many businesses looking for people with a knowledge of the language – all the more reason to give Mandarin a go!
Hindi
The seventh largest country in the world with a population of 1.3 billion, India has over 22 languages recognised in its official constitution, reflecting a land that is known for its incredible cultural diversity. Hindu or Urdu is the main spoken language, but the question of whether these two dialects can be considered one language (known as Hindustani) is an incredibly sensitive subject that is still up to much debate – for the purposes of this list, they will be addressed separately. An Indo-Aryan Language mostly spoken in the North of India, Hindi has over 600 million speakers worldwide, with around 200 million of these outside of India. Hindi uses the Devanagari writing script, composed of 47 characters with 14 vowels and 33 consonants. The language’s orthography reflects its pronunciation, and like the Latin alphabet, it is written from left to right. As a result of Britain’s colonisation of India, it is hardly surprising that there are also many Hindi loanwords used in English today, such as bungalow, guru, bandana, jodhpurs, jungle, mantra, and loot.
Spanish
Spanish is a well-known Romance language derived from Latin spoken in the Iberian Peninsula and boasts almost 500 million speakers across the world. Spain’s past imperialistic history means that Spanish speakers are spread widely across the planet, with most speakers outside of Spain residing in Latin America where the official language is usually Spanish (except for Portuguese in Brazil). As with English, there is a drive to increase the use of indigenous languages in former Spanish colonies as a way of resisting the domination of the language of the colonisers, so to speak. Despite this, Spanish remains one of the most important languages in the world, with an incredibly rich history and cultural output. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations and is constituently official in over 21 countries, often also taught as a second language in many schools across the world. Spanish is a largely phonetic language, meaning words are largely pronounced how they are written, a fact that makes Spanish somewhat easier than languages such as French or German for a beginner to pick up. As with many languages, Spanish has many regional varieties, with differences between Latin American and ‘mainland’ (Castilian) Spanish and variances within the different regions of Spain itself (someone from Seville will sound very different to someone from Madrid, for example). One interesting fact about Spanish is, despite being a Latin language, it has many loanwords from Arabic owing to the Muslim conquest of Spain in the 8th century; some of these words include almohada (pillow, from mihaddah), taza (cup, from tassah) and arroz (rice, from aruzz).
Arabic
Having just mentioned this language’s influence on Spanish, Arabic is conveniently placed just after Spanish in the rankings as the fifth most widely spoken language, with around 422 million speakers worldwide. Arabic is both widely spoken in the Arab world as well as in countries involved in the Arab diaspora, meaning Arabic has a huge reach in terms of its speakers. Arabic has official status in over 26 countries and is the liturgical language of Islam, with the Quran written in Arabic. It is a Semitic language, which refers to a branch of the Afroasiatic language family, spoken by over 300 million people and including languages such as Amharic, Hebrew, Tigrinya, and Maltese. A language with an incredibly long and colourful cultural history, Arabic is often seen as a challenging language to learn. It uses the striking Arabic script, which is written from left to right, with an alphabet containing 28 letters. Arabic grammar and morphology are very different to that of English, and pronunciation can also be a challenge, as many vowel sounds that we use in English are omitted in Arabic. Despite these apparent obstacles, learning Arabic is a worthwhile endeavour for any budding polyglot – it is hugely in demand for several reasons. Owing to humanitarian crises in the middle east, many charities are looking for speakers of Arabic to help those displaced by such events. At the same time, increased trade with the Middle east (as with China) means businesses are always on the lookout for any possible speakers of the language, which may possibly lead to many travel opportunities.
Bengali
Bengali, also known as Bangla, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken throughout the world by 268 million people. It is an official language in India and Bangladesh. Bengali is most widely spoken in Bangladesh, where there are 159 million Bengali speakers. The language is also spoken prominently in India, home to 104 million Bengali speakers, 96.5 million of whom speak Bengali as a first language. In addition to Bangladesh and India, Bengali is also widely spoken in Pakistan (around 3 million speakers), the UAE (337,000 speakers), Myanmar (286,000 speakers), Singapore (100,000 speakers), and Malaysia (81,000 speakers). A significant number of Bengali speakers can also be found in the United Kingdom (221,403 speakers). There are several major Bengali dialects, such as East Bengali, Rangpuri, Varendri (North Central Bengali), Sylheti, Chatgaya, Noakhailla, Manbhumi, Rarhi, and Sundarbarni.
French
French, a Romance language and part of the Indo-European language family, is spoken by 267 million people globally. Globally, French is an official language in 29 countries, including Belgium, Canada, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Senegal, and Switzerland. 63.2 million of the world’s French speakers are in France, making it the country with the highest number of French speakers. There are also 31.9 million French speakers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 13.4 million French speakers in Algeria, and 10.8 million French speakers in Morocco. There are also numerous variations of the French language in the different countries the language is spoken in. Some of the most notable of the different French dialects include African French, Québécois French, Haitian French, and Louisiana French.
Russian
One of the Balto-Slavic languages, Russian is spoken by 258,227,760 people globally. The Russian language is part of the Indo-European language family, and is the most widely spoken language in the European continent; there are 138 million speakers of the language in Russia alone. Russian is used as an official language in several different countries, including Russia, Belarus (6.978 million speakers), Kazakhstan (16.8 million speakers), and Kyrgyzstan (2.85 million speakers. There are significant numbers of Russian speakers in Azerbaijan (4.882 million speakers), Estonia (1.118 million speakers), Georgia (2,376,200 speakers), and Israel (1 million Russian speakers). Additionally, Russian is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations.
Portuguese
Portuguese is an Indo-European Romance language, spoken by 258 million people throughout the world. Not only is Portuguese used as an official language in Portugal and Brazil, but it is also an official language in Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Principe. The language has a co-official language status in East Timor, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, and Macau. One might think that the highest number of Portuguese speakers would be found in Portugal (9.9 million speakers), but in fact, the country with the highest number of Portuguese speakers in the world is Brazil, where there are an estimated 194 million Portuguese speakers. As well as being the official language of Brazil, Portuguese is taught as the primary language in schools, and is used prominently in media and publication in the country. There are significant numbers of Portuguese speakers in Angola (15.47 million speakers), Mozambique (10.25 million speakers), and France (959,000 speakers).
Urdu
Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by 230 million people globally, primarily in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the United States, and the UK. The Urdu language originated in the North India, close to Delhi, in the 12th century. It became the official language of Pakistan after the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan and is a recognised regional language in several Indian states, such as Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh. There are 109 million Urdu speakers in Pakistan, 58.3 million Urdu speakers in India, and 737,800 Bengali speakers in Nepal. Urdu is also the fourth most widely spoken foreign language in the UK, where there are Bengali 269,000 speakers. The Urdu language is linked to the practice of Islam and a significant number of Urdu speakers are Muslim. There are numerous Urdu dialects including Deccani, Dhakaiya Urdu, and Rehkta.
Concluding Thoughts
Of course, there are many other languages spoken throughout the world beyond this top 10 list. However, the number of people that speak these languages is truly staggering, and conveys how speaking Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic or Russian, can help you to communicate and connect with millions and millions of people across the globe. If you require translation or interpreting services in any language, you can get a quote here from Crystal Clear Translation.
by Hammed Sonny | Nov 17, 2021 | Multilingualism
(Written by Callum Madle and Phoebe Harrison).
When discussing the languages of the British Isles that aren’t English, many people will assume you are referring to the melting pot of foreign languages widely spoken in the region due to immigration, particularly in big cities such as London, Glasgow, and Birmingham, where languages such as Polish, Urdu, Bengali, Arabic, Chinese and Tamil are often commonplace as a native or second language. Yet often overlooked are those languages native to the British Isles themselves, the descendants of the Brythonic and Goidelic branches of the Celtic Language family, first spoken on the isles thousands of years ago and now sadly mostly endangered. Here are the main ones.
Welsh
Of all the minority languages native to the British Isles, Welsh (or Cymraeg) is somewhat unique – unlike its neighbouring languages, it is the only native British language to not be considered ‘endangered’ by UNESCO, and it still very widely spoken today. As of 2021, estimates show that around 884,300 people in Wales (29.2% of the population) can speak Welsh as both a first or second language, with an additional 110,000 speakers residing in England (as of 2011) and even pockets of around 1,500 speakers in Argentina in the Welsh colony of Chubut. A fairly ancient language, Welsh evolved from the Brythonic strain of the Celtic language tree, the Celtic tongue that was spoken in Wales, Southern Scotland, and England prior to the Roman invasion of 43AD. The Welsh that we recognise began to develop as its own language between 400 and 700 AD and continued to be the main language in Wales even after the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Despite this, Welsh gradually became displaced by English as an ‘official’ language, a fact hastened by Henry VIII’s 1536 Act of Union, where Wales became incorporated into England. Despite these factors, Welsh was still widely used in both spoken and written language, and in the 1911 census, the highest number of Welsh speakers as a percentage of the population was recorded, with over 977,366 speakers, 43.5% of the populace. However, the Welsh language still declined due to growing population movement and communication. It was also still a minority language, with the devastation of the First World War claiming the lives of approximately 20,000 speakers, diminishing it further. Unperturbed by these hardships however, there was a large drive post-Second-World War to revive and maintain the Welsh language. The Welsh Language Act of 1967 permitted the use of Welsh in Welsh courts when presenting evidence, and official forms were also allowed to be written in the language. In 1977, BBC Radio Cymru – a Welsh-language station – was established, and in 1982 the creation of Welsh-language TV channel S4C followed suit, meaning that Welsh now had a place in media and entertainment alongside English. In 1993 and 2003, more measures were introduced (namely, another Welsh Language Act and A National Action Plan for a Bilingual Wales) to solidify the use of Welsh and maintain its use; since then, numbers of Welsh speakers have shown significant stability. Indeed, today Welsh is very often a compulsory subject in Welsh schools between the ages of 5 and 16, and there are also a growing number of Welsh medium schools that use Welsh as their primary teaching language across all subjects. In terms of its specific linguistic features, Welsh shares some similarities with Cornish and Breton, but has characteristics that distinguish it from the other Celtic languages like Gaelic. One of these distinguishing features is the use of consonant mutation, where the first consonant of a word will change depending on the grammatical context in which it is used. Some words and expressions in welsh include bore da (good morning), croeso (welcome), pob lwc (good luck) and iechyd da (cheers!).
Irish
Perhaps the other most widely spoken ‘minority’ language alongside Welsh, Irish Gaelic (Gaeilge) is nevertheless considered ‘definitely endangered’ by UNESCO. According to 2016 figures, 1.76 million people in Ireland claim to speak Irish, with 73,803 doing so daily, 111,473 weekly and 586,535 less often. In Northern Ireland, Gaelic is an official minority language, receiving recognition for the first time under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, with a cross-border body promoting the use of the language in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It became an official language of the European Language in 2005. Irish is a member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages tree and is related to Manx and Scottish Gaelic with a degree of mutual intelligibility between them. Historically, until the 17th century Gaelic was still the principal language of Ireland but was displaced by English between the 17th and 20th century because of British rule there. The language further declined as a result of mass immigration caused by poverty and famine in the 19th century. However, the creation of the Republic of Ireland in 1922 meant that Irish was once again adopted as an official language alongside English. Irish terms also replaced English ones for the titles of official bodies and figures, such as the Police (Garda), the Prime Minister (Taoiseach) and the Parliament (Dáli). There are three main existing dialects of Irish – Munster (An Mhumhain), Connacht (Connachta) and Ulster (Ulaidh). These three strains were combined in the 1950s and 60s to create a ‘standardised’ version of Irish that is now taught in most schools. Irish mostly uses the Latin alphabet for the written word, but occasionally Gaelic script (first used in the Medieval era) can be seen on road signs and public notices. Linguistically, Irish is a fairly difficult and unique language, with complex orthography (using letter combinations such as ‘mh’, ‘bh’ and ‘dh’ to name a few), a case system for nouns, and a sightly unique numeric system, with different disjunctive numbers used depending on the object in question ( three buses will not be counted the same way as three cows, for example.) Some common expressions in Irish include dia duit (hello) slán go fóill (see you later), and sláinte (cheers!).
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic is spoken by 57,400 people in Scotland, primarily in the Highlands, the Western Isles, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Inverness. The language is part of the Goidelic language family, the northern group of Celtic languages, which span from the Isle of Man to Scotland. Scottish Gaelic, as well as the Modern Irish language and Manx, all derive from Old Irish, the oldest form of the Goidelic languages. It might not be an official language of the UK, but Scottish Gaelic is one of the four recognised languages by the Scottish Government. It has also been classified as an indigenous language by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. According to the 2011 Census, an estimated 87,100 people aged 3 and over in Scotland had some Scottish Gaelic language skills, 37 per cent of this number had full Gaelic skills. Although the number of Scottish Gaelic speakers has declined significantly since the 18th century, devolution and the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in May 1999 has boosted the languages’ chances of survival in the 21st century, thanks to the introduction of the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act of 2005, the first legislation dedicated to the protection of the Scottish Gaelic language.
Basic Scottish Gaelic phrases:
- Hello – Halò
- How are you? – Ciamar a tha thu/sibh?
- Fine, thank you – Tha mi gu math, tapadh leat/leibh
- What is your name? – Dè an t-ainm a th’ ort/oirbh?
- My name is… – Is mise…
- Nice to meet you – ‘S toil leam gur coinneachadh
- Please – Led thoil / Ler toil
- Thank you – Tapadh leat/leibh
Scots
Unlike Scottish Gaelic, Scots, also known as Braid Scots or Broad Scots, is a West Germanic language spoken primarily in the Scottish Lowlands and Ulster, where the language is known as Ulster Scots. In total, the language is spoken by 1.5 million people in the UK, and is used as a first language by 89,200 people. The Ulster Scots dialect is spoken by an estimated 10,000 people in Northern Ireland. Scots is also one of the four languages recognised by the Scottish Government, and has also been classified as an indigenous language by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The earliest written example of the Scots language is a text from 1300 AD, about the death of Alexander III, King of Scotland between 1249 and 1286. Use of the Scots language declined in 1707 after the union between Scotland and England was established, but more recently, the language has been included in the new Scottish national curriculum and is protected under the 2015 Scots Language Policy. In fact, as of the 2011 census, 1.9 million stated that they could “read, write, speak or understand Scots”.
Basic Scots phrases:
- Welcome – Wylcome
- Hello – Hullo
- Goodbye – Guidbye
- How are you? – Hoo are ye?
- Where are you from? – Whaur ye fae?
- Thank you – Thank ye
- Have a nice day – Hae a guid day
Cornish
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language, which shares its origins with the Welsh and Breton languages. Use of the Cornish language declined between the 16th and 17th century, due to the Prayer Book Rebellion, during which 4,000 Cornish Catholics were killed for resisting the anglicisation of the Church during the Reformation. Classified as an extinct language until its revival in the 20th century, Cornish has become increasingly popular. In 2002, the Cornish language was recognised by the UK Government as part of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages. Additionally, Cornish is also used on signage in Cornwall, as well as being taught in some nurseries and schools.
Basic Cornish phrases:
- Welcome – Dynnargh dhis
- Hello – Dydh da
- How are you? – Fatla genes?
- What’s your name? – Pyth yw dha hanow?
- Where are you from? – A bleth os ta devedhys?
- Pleased to meet you – Da yw genev metya genes
- Good morning – Myttin da
- Good evening – Gorthugher da
- Goodbye – Duw genes
Manx
The minority languages of the British Isles seem to be divided into those that are very much ‘living’ (despite outside factors) and those that can be considered as ‘dying’ or even ‘dead’. Up until fairly recently, Manx fell into the latter category, though thanks to a concerted effort by speakers, it has been revived. In figures from 2011, over 1,823 people claimed to have some ability in speaking, reading and/or writing in Manx, and the current number of children fluent in the language is estimated to be around a few hundred, a growing number owing to many of these children now having grown up in Manx-speaking families. A Celtic language, Manx is primarily spoken on the Isle of Mann (Ellan Vannin)) and is closely related to Irish and Scottish Gaelic, brought to the isle by settlers from Ulster and Galloway in the 5th century. Manx emerged as its own language in the 13th and 14th centuries after the collapse of the Norse kingdom of Mann, up until English control of the isle through the Stanley family. In 1765, the Revestment Act sold the island to the British crown and led to a sharp decline in Manx speakers as the economy collapsed and people emigrated, further aggravated through 19th century immigration to the North West of England. In 1974, the last native speaker of Manx, Ned Maddrell, died, and Manx was considered extinct. However, in 1985, the Tynwald (the island’s parliamentary body) passed a resolution that would give Manx limited official recognition for the first time. The Manx Gaelic Advisory Council and the Manx Heritage Foundation were also set up to help revive and preserve the language. Since then, the language has enjoyed a slow resurrection. Since 1992, Manx has been taught in schools on the Isle of Man, and since 2001 several playgroups and primary schools led and taught in Manx language have been set up. Manx classes for adults are popular, and there are also several Manx-language choir groups and a resurgence in the creation of Manx language materials, such as books and radio programmes. Some words and phrases in Manx include s’mie lhiam çheet dty whail (pleased to meet you), cair vie (‘have a good journey’) and slaynt (cheers!).
Conclusion
Despite the dominance of the English language in the UK, there has been a significant revival and legislation of protections to the indigenous languages in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Now, the once lost or extinct languages like Cornish or Manx, as well as the prominently used Welsh and Scots languages, are examples of the healthy state of indigenous language diversity in the UK. If you require translation or interpreting services in any language, you can get a quote here from Crystal Clear Translation.
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