Last month we celebrated the International Translation Day and along with it went a commitment of our staff to learn 50 new words in a language they don’t speak yet. So it is about time to give you a quick update on how it is going.
Linda from our marketing department has actually taken up the challenge to get her head around the Welsh language and so far, it is going Ok. She has mastered the arts of saying “Good morning – Bore da”, “What’s your name? – Beth yw’ch enw chi?” and “I’m Linda – Linda dw i”. The biggest help for her in learning the welsh language comes from her fellow students. She has intentionally chosen to sit an evening class in the local community hall which runs once a week.
Here is what Linda has to say about the language challenge: “I was really worried at the beginning about the difficulty of the Welsh language as it doesn’t look like an easy language to pick up. But I’m surprised how well I’m doing. Being German native actually helps a lot with the pronunciation as some of the sounds are similar, like the “r” and “ch”. Whereas some of my fellow students are really struggling saying the hard sounds, I feel very familiar with it from my German mother tongue. But it is still early days, but so far, I’m enjoying it.”
Her colleague Sarah from the sales team wishes she would have made more use of her German which she studied for her A-levels. Our challenge is now giving her the opportunity to brush up on her German language skills. One of the benefits of working for a translation company is that she always finds a volunteer to practice her German.
A few German and Welsh words for you to pick up in your lunch break:
English German Welsh Good morning Guten Morgen Bore Da Good afternoon Guten Nachmittag Prynhawn Da Goodbye Auf Wiedersehen Hwyl Where do you live? Wo wohnen Sie? Ble dych chin’ byw? Let us know what languages are you currently learning? Which languages would you love to be able to speak? How is the best way to go about learning a new language?